Together
by EdgeEmpress
Summary: The underground can be a dangerous place for humans, but maybe three friends can survive by relying on each other. [A story featuring characters that represent myself and two of my best friends] [Yes, it's gonna be cheesy] [AU- Underfell]
1. A Trip Before Fall

"Well, Renee, hasn't this been just as amazing as we promised?" Millie spoke as the trio took a seat on the cliff's edge.

Renee laughed softly, and a beaming smile stretched across her face. "I never doubted you guys for a second! But, I have to say," she paused and looked out over the land below them, the setting sun painting the landscape in all shades, "this has been even better than I could have hoped."

"It's not every day the freshie in our group graduates," Eliza elbowed Renee playfully, "We had to celebrate to the fullest, darling."

"I'm not a freshman anymore!" the now high-school graduate scowled, continuing the game, "I haven't been for three years. And you're still calling me…"

Millie was silent while Eliza laughed at the sputtering smol child (Who, ironically, was the tallest out of all of them). "You know, technically speaking, you are a freshman," she finally said, "A freshman in college."

Sighing, Renee conceded. "Okay. You have me there."

Her eyes suddenly lit up again. "Wait, that means that this year is just like the year we met! You guys sophomores, I'm a freshman. Four years. It feels so long ago."

"My friend group grew with two great new people," Millie's legs swung as they dangled over the edge.

"And I needed to meet you guys. As a new kid, I was hopeless with social interaction," Eliza reached out and took each of their hands, "I'm so glad that you became my friends."

They sat like that awhile, a row on the ledge, as the sun began to finally duck fully behind the earth and grey twilight was all that remained.

"Something is going to be different this year, though. Now we're all going in separate directions. All different colleges. With Renee graduating it's like it's official. We really won't see each other," Eliza's voice was a whisper, and she held tighter to their hands.

Millie didn't give it a millisecond to sink in, "Well that's why we went on this camping trip! And we'll find the time during breaks, there's no need to worry." She stood up off the ledge, and since the group's hands were still linked, the other two popped up as well.

"And we still have the rest of tonight before we all have to head to the airport for the start of the fall session. Once we get back to camp we'll stay up all night," Renee piped in.

"Yes! We'll tell stories of this supposedly haunted mountain. Oooo-ooo," Millie mocked the unimaginative local legend of people disappearing with a spooktacular ghost impression.

Eliza nodded wholeheartedly, "You're both right, of course. We should use this time to the fullest, which means that we should probably start heading back to camp before it gets any darker. We wouldn't want to get lost and waste any trying to find our way."

"Yeah, let's get moving." Millie began the march, and Renee followed, but they were both immediately halted by the stationary Eliza, with whom they were still holding hands.

"Uh, guys," Eliza glanced at their hands, "We should probably grab our junk."

Sounds of agreement filled the air as they finally released each other and walked back a bit to pick up their stuff.

As they moved further down the mountain the night truly set in. Darkness crept in around the three, with only a little light from the stars due to a new moon. Somewhere along the way they had grabbed hold of each other, clinging to bags to not get separated, with Eliza in front. The small cha-cha line worked its way through the woods.

"We should have brought a flashlight," Renee spoke up from the back.

Millie shrugged, "We remembered the food and stuff, and game junk, but didn't bring light. Figures."

Eliza ground to a halt, Millie softly colliding into her back, causing Renee to run into Millie.

"What?" Millie pushed gently at the stilled leader.

"Uh," Eliza was looking slowly left and right, "Uh." She continued this for a bit, and then sighed, finally speaking. You could hear strained mirth in her voice, "One of you mimic Aragorn. Be like 'Eliza! What do your nocturnal eyes see?'"

The other two glanced at each other in confusion, and then Renee proceeded as asked. "Eliza! What do your nocturnal eyes see?"

"Well, what they don't see," Eliza gave a few broken chuckles, "is the path."

"What?!" "No!" "We lost the path?" "Eliza, really?" "And a joke?" "When we're lost?" "This isn't exactly the time." "We're actually off the path?"

The wave of worry exploded from Millie and Renee, and Eliza didn't even bother to keep straight who was saying what. She waited until they both quieted, and then laughed again, stress taking form as twisted humor. "I'm sorry. I was just trying to make light of the situation. Hehe, _light_. Anyhow, I don't know when it happened, but the cleared path we've been following has come to a stop. That means that it isn't the right path, we made a wrong turn somewhere."

"It's okay. It's easy to get lost when it's this dark," Renee spoke gently, "Even for people that naturally stay up all night. It's not your fault." She looked comfortingly in the direction of her friend, but she wasn't sure if she saw her in the black.

Millie huffed. She was irritated, but she knew that missing the path was an honest mistake. Pulling on Renee's sleeve, she turned around and started following the path back. "Come on guys, we'll just head back until we find where we made the wrong turn." She took the lead this time; occasionally glancing back to make sure that everyone was still holding onto each other.

They came to a fork in the path rather quickly, one way leading up, the other down. After a brief discussion, they agreed that it would make sense to head down and followed that path. They walked for what was beginning to seem like forever, monotony settling in as they trudged along. Trees and dark. Trees and dark. Trees and dark. This only punctuated by occasional encouraging comments whispered by one of the three.

When they fell it was a shock. How had they missed the hole? Was it covered by leaves? Was it that Millie had been too focused on whether the path continued as far as the eye could see? In the end it didn't matter why. They still fell.

And when they fell, they fell together.


	2. More Setup

Eliza woke to a pounding head and the incessant chirping of birds. "Gods," she groaned, before deciding that her ribs hurt too much to talk. _This is fine._ She started to crack one eye open, but the daylight coming from the hole in the ceiling was offensive to both her and her headache, so she quickly closed it again. _Everything hurts. This is fine._

Her thoughts drifted as she tried to piece together exactly what had happened. They'd been lost, but thought they'd found the right path to get back to camp. _We must've made it back and collapsed from exhaustion._ She mused. _Head hurts from stress. Ribs- from overexerting myself during archery yesterday? I was showing off. Makes sense. I'll just- uh- try to sleep again and wait until one of the others wakes me up. Damn birds damn hole in the ceiling I hate… Hole in the ceiling? Of the tent? No. So- oh no oh no._

"Guys?" she forced her eyes open and immediately sat up despite the shooting pain in her chest, "Guys?!"

Taking in the area quickly, she saw that all three of them had landed on a patch of yellow flowers growing in the light that managed to make its way to the bottom of the cavern. Millie and Renee were both still unconscious. _Please not dead not dead_. It looked like all their bags had fallen with them as well.

Millie was closer, just a few inches away, and Eliza reached out to check her pulse. _Alive. Okay._ Before she could turn to check Renee, she heard a muffled grumble from her direction. _Alive. Okay. Two for two._

Renee sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Where are we?"

"We fell," Eliza was short, and matter-of-fact, "And I think it would be better if we were all awake and okay before we figure out what to do."

Renee just nodded.

"Good. Now please get over here and help me with Millie. She's not waking up. You're better at this than me."

Renee was settled over the last member of their group and Eliza stood to gather their belongings, taking in a sharp breath.

"Are you okay?" Renee looked away from Millie to where Eliza stood clutching her upper chest.

"Pay attention to the potential-coma-patient-sleeping-beauty. I might've bruised some ribs." _Or worse._ "I'll be okay."

Renee thought her friend might be lying, but Eliza wasn't wrong about the priorities. She turned her full attention to waking Millie and let Eliza wander about, gathering their bags and checking their inventory.

Millie was breathing evenly, and didn't have any obvious injuries. Based off of her basic understanding of medicine, which almost all of comes from writing, Renee supposed she was not grievously injured. She was just out cold. She began to call out to her friend, shaking her gently. Millie didn't shift.

"This isn't going to work," she spoke aloud so Eliza could hear, "She's unconscious. We're just going to have to wait until she wakes up."

"Ah. Okay. We can- um," Eliza sat beside the two on the ground with their three bags, "Go through what we have while we wait."

"Okay. So, what survived the fall?"

"Amazingly, most everything," Eliza grabbed out each item as she listed it, showed it to Renee, and placed it back in a bag. "Three bags: two back-pack style, and one bow case. One recurve bow and eleven arrows (we couldn't find that one after I lost it shooting yesterday). One baseball, one aluminum bat, and one glove (Millie didn't bring one, and mine somehow ripped open). Three one liter water bottles, all about half full… looks like there isn't any food left from the picnic. All of the food utensils are there though, which means four forks, one serving spatula, and one relatively sharp knife. Three heavier hoodies. One dead flashlight keychain, but no new batteries. Speaking of which, does your phone have a charge? Mine was smashed in the fall."

"Oh, right! Maybe we can call for help!" Renee pulled her phone out of her pocket and quickly assessed it for any damage. "It doesn't look broken!" she cried out triumphantly, pushing the start button. Then pushing it again. And again. She stared in disbelief, gaze darting between her friend and her unresponsive phone. "It's dead."

"Mmmhhhmn," Eliza hummed in acknowledgement as she pulled Millie's phone out of their still unconscious friend's pocket. "And this one has a charge, but looks like there's no service down here anyway." She nodded to herself, having accepted that for whatever reason everything that could go wrong was going to go wrong. She then turned the phone in her hands off to save what little battery it had left.

Mille woke up gasping, and sat straight up. "We fell!"

"You're a little late to the game," Eliza grinned, pleased to see her friend seemed okay.

Renee put a comforting hand on Millie's shoulder, and their now-conscious friend's panicked breathing slowed, "We'll catch you up."

The three went over everything, sitting on the blanket of flowers. They laughed at their predicament. It could almost appear like a normal gathering the three would have, if it weren't for, well, everything.

Millie looked up the sheer walls to where they fell from, "We aren't getting back up that way. Is there another way out?"

"There'd better be, or we're probably going to die."

The other's looks were daggers. "A bit morbid, don't you think, Eliza?" Millie managed through a clenched grin.

Eliza shrugged. "It's the truth."

"So!" Renee stood, attempting to break some of the tension, "We should go look!"

"Wait," Millie grabbed her ankle, "We don't know what's down here."

Eliza began to open her bow case, "Millie's right. We should arm ourselves. Just in case." She pulled out her bow, hooking her quiver of arrows over her shoulder.

"I'll carry the bat," Millie grabbed it before throwing on her bag.

"What about me?"

It wasn't her intent. Renee's voice is naturally quiet. She almost constantly has a smile on her face. Her natural state seems to be 'radiate joy' and 'make sure everyone is okay'. So, it was never her intent to appear like someone that needed to be protected. It would irritate her to no end if anyone suggested that she couldn't defend herself.

But, in that moment, she looked with big eyes at her friends and the others had an unspoken moment of agreement. Renee wasn't going to have to fight anything if they could help it.

"Can you carry the bag with the food stuff and the water?" Millie used the bat as a pointer, gesturing toward the last bag, "It's got a knife you can pull out if you need it."

Renee didn't seem to notice their concerns, pulling on the bag, "Yeah, that'll work."

Eliza turned and let out a small sigh of relief when Renee didn't immediately pull out the weapon. "Okay, let's get looking then. This tunnel over here looks like the only direction we can go."

"Hey, Eliza?" Renee spoke up again before they could get anywhere.

"Yeah?" she looked over her shoulder.

"Are you going to leave your bow case here?"

"Oh! Well," she looked at her bow, "I need both hands to shoot. Besides, it's heavy and doesn't have anything else in it. No worries. I'll just get another one if we get out of here."

"I think you mean _when_ we get out of here," Renee corrected, then dashed ahead through the opening in the cavern.

"Hey!" "Hey wait up!" "Slow down!" "Renee!"

Millie and Eliza ran to catch up with her, coming to a sudden halt beside her. At the end of the tunnel was a turn in the path, clearly marked by a pillar archway.

"This doesn't look like any particular style of structure I'm familiar with," Millie spoke, the history major coming out in her, "And what is it doing down here? I don't know of any ancient communities that frequented this area." She put a hand out, laying it against the worn stone.

"Welp, maybe we'll discover something interesting while we're down here. Make the trip worthwhile for us nerds," Eliza joked, but she automatically nocked an arrow.

They could see nothing clearly beyond the pillars.

Millie stepped back toward the rest of the group, hand unconsciously returning to the bat, "We can do this."

Renee put a hand on each of her friends, "We can do it together."

And, together, they stepped through the archway into the unknown.


	3. Making Friends

"Don't hurt me!" a small yellow flower screeched.

It was sitting in the lone circle of light that was in the open cavern that the tunnel had led to. Its small petaled head curled down at the sight of the armed group, little leaves (arms?) curling up around it.

There was a painfully still moment.

"Huh," Eliza lowered her bow, having drawn an arrow the second that she had seen movement a moment before.

"So," Millie followed suit, lowering her bat some, but not all the way, "You guys are going to have to tell me, did you just see that flower talk?"

"Thank goodness!" Renee nearly yelled, causing the others to look startled in her direction. At the sudden attention her volume dropped exponentially and she stared at her shoes, "I thought that I maybe had hit my head a bit harder than I initially thought. Seeing things would not be a benefit while we're trapped underground."

"No, no, sweetheart, I see it too!" Eliza wanted to give her a hug, but instinct demanded she not put her weapon away completely.

The flower had slowly looked up, watching the friends interact.

"You're humans," its eyes widened, "Oh! Oh no! You're humans!"

Millie rested her bat on her shoulder, "There's a talking flower. And we all see it. I guess it's real then? How does logic apply to this?"

"I'm real!" it squeaked again, twisting around quickly once, gaze scanning the surroundings, then it looked back at them. "H-howdy, I'm Flowey, Flowey the flower. This is the Underground, and you _really_ shouldn't be here."

"Shhhhhhhh," Eliza held out a finger in the direction of the flower, shushing it. "Look, little guy… I think you're a guy? You remind me of my little brother for some reason… anyway, look, it isn't normal for flowers to be talking. This is going to take a second to sink in. So, if you want to be helpful, maybe you should explain the whole talking flower thing before anything else."

"I remind you of your brother?" his expression was something that, try as she might, Eliza couldn't put a name to. There was some… hope? But definite hurt too? Either way, she knew she had hit a nerve.

He shook himself out of it quickly, "Okay. I'll give you the short version. This is the Underground. The Underground is full of monsters that are going to try and kill you. They're going to try and kill you because years ago there was a war and humans cast a spell that trapped the monsters in the Underground. I'm against killing, so I'm seen as weak, a nuisance. Are you following?"

When he saw the humans nodding, he continued. "It's said that there is a way that the barrier- that's the spell that keeps the monsters in the Underground- can be broken if the monsters have seven human souls. Right now they have six. If the monsters break the barrier, they will wage war on the surface." He paused again, appearing to give them a second to digest.

Millie motioned for the group to huddle up, and they formed a small circle.

"Excuse us a moment," Renee leaned out of the circle for a second to speak to the flower, than leaned back in.

"This sounds crazy guys, but what else could explain all of this? I mean, a talking flower?" Millie jumped right into it.

Eliza shook her head, "As weird as it sounds, I think we have to go with the idea that he's telling the truth. He's given us no reason to believe otherwise, other than being a talking flower."

"He has been nice so far. Which is good because we might be in the Underground, where there are monsters that want to kill us," Renee started happy and ended concerned.

"This sounds insane. We sound insane," Millie huffed.

"When it comes down to it, it isn't going to hurt us to assume he's telling the truth. Why would he warn us of danger that doesn't exist? And even if this ends up being some dream or magic group hallucination, we're still better off playing it safe. I say we go with it," Eliza stated definitively, making it clear her decision was made.

The other two hummed in agreement.

"But, in that case," Renee spoke hesitantly, "We have to assume that we _are_ in the Underground, where not only are there monsters that want to kill us, there are monsters that will wage war on humanity if they get a hold of any one of our souls- which are apparently things that we have."

"Oh." "Oh."

"This is bad," Millie stated as the group huddle was broken.

"We're humans in the Underground, and we _really_ shouldn't be here," Eliza spoke to Flowey, echoing his concerns from earlier. "So how can we get out?"

"Can you help us?" Renee asked, moving to head toward him, but he flinched and she stopped immediately.

He stared at the three for a bit, and a sad smile crossed his face, "I'll try. Here's what we're going to need to do…" he froze, head cocked like he was listening, "Oh no."

"What?" Millie pulled her bat back, ready to swing, and automatically moved in front of Renee.

Eliza brought her bow up, joining Millie in front of the youngest in the group, "Is it another monster?"

"It is. I almost forgot about her," he took a deep breath, then spoke at the speed of light, "You aren't going to be able to hide from her. She isn't going to hurt you immediately. Play along with what she wants, but whatever you do, _do not trust her_. And don't tell her that you met me. I'll come find you. You'll be okay. Hopefully." With that, he vanished into the ground.

"Well that was cryptic and not at all helpful," Millie growled, not lowering her weapon.

Everyone watched the other side of the cave, where the only other entrance was.

It didn't take long before a tall monster arrived. She appeared to be some kind of goat woman, complete with fur and horns. She was wearing a black dress with some sort of design on it. She also didn't care that two of them had weapons. When she saw the three, a kind smile lit her face, and her hands opened in a welcoming manner.

"Oh, you poor children," she approached rapidly, closing the distance between them. "I am sorry that I frightened you. But I assure you, you have no need for those things. Now that I am here, I can protect you."

Her voice was kind and warm. It would be easy to trust her, but Flowey's warning was fresh in their minds. Millie lowered her bat, but held onto it. Eliza took her arrow off the string and hesitantly put it in her quiver.

"See," the goat woman laughed lightly, "Does that not feel better? My name is Toriel. Now, please, introduce yourselves and let me have a look at that friend you are hiding behind you."

Renee saw her friends freeze, and she knew that she had to take charge. Flowey said to play along, so she'd play along. Besides, maybe Toriel would be nice if they were.

"I'm Renee," she gently pushed through her friends to the front, "And this is Millie and Eliza." She pointed to each person respectively. "To be honest, Miss Toriel, right now we're just very lost and very confused. We could really use your help."

"Of course, children," Toriel placed what was supposed to be a comforting paw on Renee's shoulder. Renee managed to internalize her flinch. Eliza and Millie, less so. "Do not worry. I will not allow harm to befall you. Now, you shall come home with me. You will be safer there than out here in the Ruins. Follow me."

She reached down and took Renee's hand, starting to lead Renee where she had come from. The 'follow me' clearly wasn't an option, it was a command, and now even if Millie and Eliza wanted to run, they would have to leave Renee. That wasn't happening.

Toriel didn't give any reason for them to believe that she was dangerous, and as she helped them pass through deadly trap after deadly trap in what she had called "the Ruins" Eliza and Millie slowly began to drop their guard. They both knew that with some of the traps they would have never made it through without Toriel's help. She was keeping them out of danger, much like how Flowey had taken the time to warn them about the dangers.

When it came down to it, there was no reason they should believe Flowey over Toriel.

"Froggit," a voice croaked, breaking the quiet that had grown while they made their way through the Ruins.

"Hello, Froggit," Toriel spoke pleasantly, turning toward a large white frog, about the size of a human toddler, "How are you doing today?"

Froggit didn't answer, eyeing the trio of humans hungrily, "Those are humans, aren't they Toriel? Froggit."

"Yes, these are _my_ children," Toriel's pleasant voice didn't waver, "You would not be happening to think of doing something to them?"

Froggit glared up at Toriel, "Six humans have escaped you Toriel, from what we Froggits can tell. Asgore only needs seven to free us. Let one of them go. Don't keep us trapped. Froggit."

"Oh, Froggit," Toriel smiled and released Renee's hand, pushing Renee behind her, "Have you forgotten where you live and why? A weak monster like yourself has to stay in the Ruins, knowing that the only Monster here that could easily kill you is me. Normally, I would not have a reason to hurt you. However, are you suggesting right now I should allow one of _my_ children to get hurt?" A ball of fire appeared above her hand, creating an eerie glow across the cavern.

"T-toriel! Froggit. You know how close we are to freedom. This is madness! Froggit." The monster took one hop toward Toriel.

The monster's desperate cry echoed throughout the cave as the fireball hit it, the monster collapsing in on itself and turning to dust. A small, white, upside-down heart was visible barely a millisecond before splintering into nonexistence.

All three girls stared at the dust. They had just seen a monster die, and it was awful.

"Let us hope that the other Froggits learn from your lesson," Toriel spoke sternly to the pile of dust, and then quickly turned around to face the humans. "Come now, children. My home is only through this next corridor."

She had protected them. She had a kind, warm voice. She had a gentle laugh and a gentle smile. Her furry paws reached out toward them in the friendliest manner. But her eyes. None of them could put together how they missed it before. Perhaps it was because it was so subtle, almost unperceivable. Something was off. Not enough to be obvious, but enough to be very, very uncomfortable.

Renee tore her gaze away from what remained of the Froggit, silent tears running down her face. It was so cruel, that without hesitation it was dead. It was dead because of them. Her hands started to come up to cover her face. She didn't know what to do, or what to think.

Toriel kneeled, grabbing Renee's hands and pushing them back down to her sides before raising a paw and gently brushing her tears away. "It is okay, my child. It cannot hurt you anymore. Mother fixed it. It cannot hurt you, I am here."

Millie and Eliza stiffened as Toriel got so close to Renee, but their friend had it together. She was repulsed by the proximity of this- this murderer, but she kept it all in her head. Outwardly she nodded and gave Toriel a small hug, mouthing that she was okay to her friends over the shoulder of the monster.

Renee relaxed as she saw her friends relax. She hated deceiving anyone, even Toriel, but she could do it if it meant keeping her friends safe. She released Toriel from the hug and smiled at her. "I think I'm okay now. Thank you for protecting us,"

The monster stood back up, still speaking sweetly to the three of them. "I will always protect you. As long as you promise to stay with me, no harm will befall you."

She didn't wait for responses. Toriel took hold of Renee's hand once more and led the three down the final passage before arriving at a friendly looking home with rows of yellow flowers planted in the front.

"Here we are," Toriel announced, walking to the front door and opening it, pulling Renee inside and gesturing for Millie and Eliza to follow, "Your new home."

Millie and Eliza stepped across the threshold together, and Toriel swooped in behind them. She swiftly closed the door, pulled out a key, and locked it from the inside. "There you go, my children. No one will be getting in. No one can harm you." She laid a paw on Millie's and Eliza's shoulders. "Now, I am going to go make you something to eat."

Toriel then left them, making her way through a hall in the left of the house.

The three immediately hugged each other; clinging together the second Toriel was out of the room. None of them dare say anything, should she hear it. But, they all could feel the love that was in the embrace. They may be locked in the house of a clearly crazy goat lady.

But at least they were locked in together.


	4. Creep Central

"Ow!" Eliza cried, pulling herself out of the hug, "Sh*t, ow. Ow."

Renee immediately took a step back, eyes nearly watering up again. "Oh no, Eliza! I'm sorry. I'd almost forgotten you were hurt."

Millie released Eliza's arm, which she had taken a hold of when Eliza had called out in pain. "Wait. She's hurt? When did she get hurt? How come I don't know this?"

Partially keeled over in pain, Eliza's eyes lit up. "S' fine guys," she got out, "I bruised some ribs in the fall. Can't be worse than that or even the adrenaline couldn't have stopped them for hurting this long. Don't _bruise_ my ego by making it a bigger deal than it is. Going on about it would actually probably be more of a _pain_."

Before anyone could even register the horribly timed jokes, Toriel came rushing into the entryway.

"I heard one of you call out!" her eyes locked on Eliza's pained grin, "Are you hurt?" Her friendly expression faltered for less than a second. "Did one of the other children hurt you?"

Eliza motioned for Toriel to stop where she was and took a breath to speak, but decided that was too much effort. Renee noted her friend's silence and took over speaking for her.

"She got hurt when she fell Toriel. Is there anything you can do?" Renee wrapped one arm around her friend comfortingly, not applying enough pressure to aggravate the injury. Millie stepped up behind Eliza, placing one hand on her back.

The goat's expression softened immediately at their concern for their friend. They hadn't hurt her child. "Yes, there is a way to heal her. Come with me to the living room."

She led them through a hallway to a sitting area with a fireplace and books. Taking hold of Eliza, she gently pushed her toward the single large armchair in the room. "Sit there. I will be right back." Toriel then disappeared through another door that from what they could see led to the kitchen.

Following the orders, Eliza sat while her friends hovered around her like worried mother hens. "Hey," she laughed shallowly, "It isn't a big deal."

Millie started a rant about needing to take care of herself, while Renee spoke gently about how she shouldn't ignore pain. Eliza leaned back into the chair, her friend's voices overlapping and washing over her. She was lucky to have such great people caring about her.

Toriel was back in less than a minute, holding plate with a slice of the most revolting looking pie any of the humans had ever seen. "Here you go, my child," she handed the plate over to Eliza.

Eliza didn't mean to show the disgust on her face, but it was obvious enough for Toriel to pick up. Luckily, she wasn't angry.

"I am sorry. I was going to bake you all a fresh cinnamon-butterscotch pie, but with you hurt it is best that you eat now. All I have left over is some snail pie. I know that humans are not much for it, but," she gave a small shrug, "it will make you feel better."

None of the friends had any idea why eating a snail pie would help Eliza, and shared confused glances. Eliza wasn't going to risk offending the monster, however, so she took a fork-full and swallowed fast.

It tasted gross and slimy, and she did have to put in a large amount of effort not only to smile pleasantly but also to not throw up the second it passed her lips. Toriel was looking at her expectantly.

"What's supposed to-" Eliza stopped suddenly as a warm hum grew in her chest, centralized on her pained ribs. It didn't stop there either, the feeling spread, slowly encompassing her completely. She held out an arm as the feeling grew warmer there and watched as a bruise she hadn't even noticed disappeared before her eyes. Then, the feeling faded.

"Whoa," a new energy had filled her, and she leapt up from the chair, handing the plate and the remainder of the pie back to Toriel. "Did you guys see that? That bruise just disappeared! And," she lifted her arms above her head and stretched side to side, "My ribs feel completely fine!"

Millie watched as Eliza essentially danced around the room and then glanced accusingly at Toriel, "What was in that pie? Some sort of drug?"

Toriel watched as well, an amused look on her face. "Not exactly," she placed the plate on a nearby side table, "Monster food contains magic that will heal you. It was made that way since ancient times, mainly to heal you after battle and give you the energy to go fight again."

"Although," she continued, "None of you will ever have to fight as long as you are with me."

"Magic is literally the only thing that could explain what I just felt," Eliza grabbed Renee's shoulders, breaking her out of the awe of what she had just witnessed, "It was just- well, magical!"

Eliza's made a lunge toward the plate, "I want more."

Toriel stepped between the human and her prize, causing Eliza to crash into the fluffy goat woman. "You do not need any more energy. It is late, and you all should be going to bed anyway."

Eliza let out a small whine, looking up at the goat with puppy-dog eyes.

Laughing, Toriel began to lead Eliza to the right side of the house, the others following. "Do not worry. I will make a fresh pie for you all to eat tomorrow. Now," she stopped and opened a door in the hall, "This will be your room from now on."

The room was clearly a child's, themed red and with a toy chest. It also clearly hadn't been occupied any time recently. A thin coat of dust covered much of the room. There was also only one small bed.

"I have not had more than one child in a very long time," Toriel's voice was lightly laced with sorrow, "So I am afraid I only have one bed. You will have to share until I can make two more."

"No problem," Millie set her bag and bat on the floor in the corner of the room.

"We like to be together," Renee put her bag down beside them.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Eliza set down her bow and took off her quiver.

Toriel continued to stand motionless and look at the three.

"Yes?" Renee finally broached after an awkward minute.

"Well," Toriel pointed at the bed, "What are you waiting for?"

Oh. The group wasn't going to be given a chance to be by themselves or explore the house. They were expected to go immediately to sleep.

Millie pushed Renee toward the bed first. It would put her closest to the wall and the hardest to attack if Toriel decided to go crazy in the night. Millie crawled in right after.

Eliza sat on the edge of the bed, and Toriel came over and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. The monster then leaned over and kissed Millie as well. Renee was out of reach for a goodnight kiss, but Toriel still brushed some hair off of her face.

"Goodnight, my children. Sleep well."

"Toriel," Eliza grabbed her sleeve as she started to leave, "I'm not tired at all. Do I have to?"

Toriel turned back and cupped Eliza's face, "Trust me, my child. You will feel tired once you lie down."

Eliza did as she was told. Though she still was feeling off, she truly intended to stay up and guard her friends all night. However, once her head hit the bed, she immediately fell asleep. It must have been another sort of magic.

The three friends slept solidly through the night, at some point migrating together to form a cuddle pile.

And they were cuddled together throughout the night, including the several hours where Toriel stayed and stared at them.


	5. Pain

When Millie woke up she was crushed between her friends. Renee actually had her arms wrapped around her, and she could feel Eliza breathing behind her.

"Let me go please," she struggled out of Renee's teddy bear hold, waking her up in the process.

"What?" Eliza also shifted groggily at the movement, managing to roll right off the bed.

"Eliza!" "No!"

"I'm good, darlings, I'm good," Eliza stood up, brushing some dust off her clothes, "That's one way to wake up."

"I swear," Millie pulled herself out of bed, "If you had managed to hurt yourself again." She shot a withering look at her friend.

Renee pushed Millie out of the way to stand and stretch. "Yeah," she ran a few fingers through her hair, fixing it, "you were acting really strange after that pie. I would prefer that we all avoid the magic food. Or at least, Toriel's magic food."

"Yeah, I don't know what got into me," Eliza shook her head, feeling a ghost of the cloud that surrounded her mind after being healed yesterday.

Millie paced the room, not one to waste time and thoughts rolling off her tongue, "We should probably start looking for a way to get out of here. Flowey said wait and play along, but how long will that be? We could all be drug-happy to stay with Toriel by the time he arrives. Maybe we should just take our weapons and leave. We could maybe win in a fight… Damnit!" Millie had wandered over to the corner, and now had each of their two bags in hand. "Our stuff is gone."

"What?!" the others yelped, rushing over.

"All that we have is the bags," Millie unzipped Renee's and dug through it, pulling out the knife. A sigh went through the whole group. "She must have only grabbed the obvious weapons."

"Okay, okay," Renee grabbed her bag and threw it on, "We can work with this." She gave each of them a once-over. "Eliza, you can hide the knife in your combat boots. Your edgy need to wear something other than hiking boots can actually be of assistance."

Eliza took the knife from Millie, tucking it between her boot and sock and pulling her jeans down to cover it. "I've got us covered. If she tries anything, I've got you."

A boost of comfort went through Renee. Eliza would protect them, just like she always said she would. "Millie, you carry the other bag. We should keep everything with us from this point on." Renee continued to relay instructions.

Millie grabbed the other bag, putting it on her shoulders. "Let's check out the rest of the house. Maybe she isn't up yet; we might be able to find a way out, or a way to get her to leave for awhile."

With that, they walked over to the bedroom door. Millie twisted the handle.

"It. Won't. Budge." she grunted out, putting her full strength into trying to turn it, but stopping after a second. "It must be locked."

"Let me take a look," Eliza strode to the front, kneeling to look at the lock and jiggling the doorknob. "This is really basic actually, nothing like what the front door is like. I'd need my tools and a lot of time to get that one undone. But all it would take to unlock this one is a semi-stiff wire. It'd pop right open." She grinned back at her friends, "Neither of you would happen to have a bobby pin on you, would you?"

Before either of them could answer Eliza felt the handle begin to shift under her grip, and she quickly let go and stepped back as the door swung open.

"My children," Toriel's form filled the frame of the door, "I thought I heard you were up. Come, come. I have made breakfast for you."

They followed her in silence to the kitchen, afraid to say anything. Had she realized that they were trying to escape? She didn't act like it.

On the counter there was a large pie with three slices cut out of it, which were sitting on three plates beside it. It was glistening brown crystallized sugar, looking and smelling much like pecan pie. It was enough to make mouths water.

"I made a sweet pie like I promised, so I suppose you can have what I would call a desert for breakfast," Toriel motioned for them to each take a plate. "I am sorry. I will have to get a table and chairs for our new family. It is nice to have such a large family, but I am going to have to adjust and rearrange parts of the house."

They each lined up next to the counter, facing the pie like it was the electric chair. They knew that it would have some sort of strange affect on them, but with Toriel there watching they might have not had a choice but to eat anyway.

Luckily, they were saved by the goat monster herself.

"Why are you wearing your bags, my children?" she tugged gently on the backpacks, having just noticed them.

Renee put on her biggest eyes and turned to face the monster, "They just make us feel safe. Like a security blanket. We'd like to keep them," she feigned worry, "Of course, as long as that's okay with you, Mom."

Mom. That word hit Toriel like a ton of bricks. Her breath caught, and she raised her hands to partially cover her stretching smile. She appeared euphorically happy.

Millie caught on to Renee's game. "Mom, are you okay? Did we do something wrong? Are we not allowed to keep the bags?"

Toriel had to put effort into saying anything at first, "I truly appreciate you calling me Mother, as that is what I wish to be." She lightly tapped the strap of Millie's bag. "You can keep the bags with you if they make you feel safe, I suppose."

Her eyes flashed dangerously for a second, "But you are not allowed to have your weapons back, so do not ask. I took those from you so you could not accidentally hurt yourselves. Besides, I am here now to keep you safe. You would not need them for any reason."

Kindness, and some regret, flooded back into her eyes, "Speaking of which, I am sorry, my children, but I will have to leave you for much of today."

"No, Mom, where are you going?" Eliza rushed forward and grabbed her sleeve, replicating the child-like neediness that the pie had made her feel the night before.

Toriel petted her head comfortingly. "Do not worry. I have heard some rumors of a monster in the area that could be dangerous to our family. I am going to go out today and fix that issue. I did not want to leave until you all were awake. It would have been concerning to wake up and find your mother gone."

She pulled away from Eliza, and took Renee's hand. "You seem to be the least rambunctious of my three children. Please keep the other children out of trouble. Do not leave the house. Do not try to go into any locked rooms," she pulled away from Renee was well, "and make sure everyone eats their pie."

With that she headed toward the front door, the trio making sure to follow her every step of the way.

"No!" "Mom!" "Don't leave us!" "You'll be back soon, right?" "Why've you got to go?"

They pleaded and begged, tugging lightly at her dress and arms.

"Now, my children," she stopped at the door, "I will be back to tuck you in. Perhaps we can read a bedtime story."

"Okay." "That would be nice." "As long as you come back!"

They all murmured what were tailored to be reluctant agreements.

Toriel kissed each one of them on the top of the head, and then took out her key and unlocked the door. "I will be locking this behind me," she told them, "No one will be getting in or can possibly hurt you. I will be back soon. I love you all."

She left and the three 'children' watched the door.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Five minutes.

Ten minutes.

She was definitely gone when Millie let out her first yell.

"What the **heck** is going on!"

Renee and Eliza weren't quite snapped out of their shock, heads turning lazily toward their furious friend.

"When, why, and how did we land in some fantasy land with talking flowers, frogs, and goats! All this summed up with a 'oh, there are monsters'? Unacceptable! This does not make sense, nowhere in history is this supposed war Flowey mentioned even hinted at. It doesn't follow, it doesn't fit, and yet **here we are**. What?! How am I supposed to accept what cannot be? How can I accept that there is a whole world down here we didn't know about? How am I supposed to accept that there are a whole species of intelligent creatures that have been trapped down here this whole time? How am I supposed to accept that these monsters will kill us? How I am I supposed to accept that… they could kill you…they could kill me…we could die…"

Millie started with a vengeance and seemed like she could go on forever, but toward the end lost steam and stared emptily at her friends.

Renee wasn't sure when she started crying, but she realized that violent sobs were wracking her body as she instinctively started to try and comfort her friend. Unable to get coherent words out, she walked over to Millie and hugged her, pulling her down until they both were sitting on the wood floor, crying together.

Eliza was frozen, her mind in another world, wave after wave of panic and anxiety drowning her, her breath becoming shallow and forced. _There are monsters. We're going to die. Oh gods and if the monsters get even one of us they get all of humanity. Who cares about humanity though? Not you. But you do care about some people. They'll get your few friends and they'll get Leo little Leo your brother he's so young just starting his second year in high school he'lldieyourfriendswilldieyou'lldiefromthemonstersthatapparentlyexistitisn'tfairtheyhaven'tdone anythingwrong…_ Her mind was running, running, running anywhere but reality, not noticing her friends and their concerned questions.

Renee and Millie pulled Eliza down so she was by them, whispering assurances that they were okay to her deaf ears. She slowly came back to them, the first thing registering to her was their tear-stained faces. A laugh shook her, her first clearly visible reaction to the situation.

"You could die. Don't die. Don't leave me," she managed to say, pulling her friends into a hug and clinging to them like they were going to disappear any second.

"We aren't going anywhere," Renee was still trying her hardest to comfort them all, "We will get out of this together."

"We'll make it," Millie's voice was a growl, crying more from anger at their desperate and ridiculous situation than anything else, "We have each other."

And that was how Flowey found them when he popped up through the floorboards. Eliza laughing and crying, Renee whispering comforting nothings and crying, and Millie scowling up a storm and crying.

Three friends each dealing with the situation in their own way, huddled up on the floor and helping each other through it, together.


	6. Under Lock and Key

Flowey thought he was probably intruding. He had wandered in on an incredibly personal moment, the three humans all in clear emotional distress. In another time, he would have felt bad for interrupting their feelings, but his main concern at the moment was keeping them alive.

"Humans," he spoke softly at first, trying to get their attention. No response, much to his frustration. "Girls!" he screeched, making them notice him.

"Flowey?" Renee grinned, tears ceasing, as she started to crawl the few feet over to him, "You came! I knew you wouldn't abandon us." She stopped short, taking in his bruised petals, one torn along the edge. "Flowey! You're hurt! What happened?"

The flower shook his head, dismissing her worry, "We don't have much time. I let myself be spotted for a second and got in a fight. I knew that monsters would report to Toriel that I was in the area and she'd go out looking for me. We don't know how quick she'll be back. We have to get you guys out of here now."

"You let yourself get hurt for us, Flowey? That isn't fair." Eliza also scooted over on the floor, reaching for the injured monster.

"I'll heal fast enough. Ignore it. It was necessary." Flowey snapped before registering their truly concerned looks. He tried to put on a comforting face, "I'll be okay, really."

Millie stood up, wiping away the remnants of her tears and attempting to appear completely in control once again. There was no way that she was going to appear weak in front of any monster. Still, she felt bad that Flowey had gotten injured. "There is some magic pie in the kitchen that healed Eliza. Though it would be a risk to eat any, it seems to have some strange side effects."

Flowey let out a hiss, drawing back and looking between the three humans. "One of you had some of Toriel's food? How much did you have?"

"Only a bite, and whatever it did to me has worn off by now, other than the healing aspects. But we managed to avoid eating the whole slices she wanted us to have for breakfast." Eliza assured Flowey, wondering what could cause such a dramatic reaction to the mention of her food.

The flower relaxed, previously stiffened petals drooping in relief, "Thank goodness."

"What's wrong with the food? It isn't poisoned or something, is it?" Renee stood suddenly and pulled Eliza up with her, looking her friend up and down for any sign of illness.

"No, no. How magic is used is all about the intent of the user. Before, magic was often used almost completely positively, for healing, protective magic." Flowey froze up again, eyes downcast, "But after things changed the monsters down here started to use it differently. It's become corrupted. Many use it for harmful attack power. Some use it as a way to temporarily forget the horrors of this world. Toriel uses it to brainwash humans into loving her and needing to stay with her."

"So it _is_ like a drug." Renee noted, "You can use it to heal, but you can also abuse it."

"Exactly. And it's just as addictive in the form that you currently find all over the underground." Flowey shifted and clasped his leaves together, "which is why I can't believe I'm saying this."

Flowey drew himself up; he needed all his strength to say what he was about to propose, "Let's take it with us."

Eliza and the others pulled back, shocked by what he was suggesting.

"What? Why, Flowey? That stuff was…wrong. I can speak from experience," Eliza tilted her head, trying to think of any good reason he would have to suggest bringing what he had described as corrupt magic.

Flowey started an explanation, but then glanced at the front door behind them. "We're wasting too much time. The pie is in the kitchen, right? Meet me in the kitchen."

The flower monster disappeared into the floorboards, and the trio walked quickly to the kitchen, finding him already there.

Flowey made a gesture encompassing the kitchen, "Find something to stick the pie in. Go on, search."

The three friends exchanged a look. They were taking orders from a monster. He had promised to help them, but still. But it made more sense to look for a container and ask questions while they were searching. They split to look through different areas.

"Eliza makes a good point. Why are we bringing the stuff with us if it's like what you say?" Millie asked, reaching into the back of a cabinet to move some things.

Flowey sighed, "Toriel may be crazy, but she still has the best healing magic in the underground. We'll keep it with us for if someone gets really hurt."

"Why would anyone be getting really hurt? Isn't the exit close once we get by Toriel?" Renee climbed up onto a counter to reach a higher storage area, making a small frustrated sound when all that was up there were cookbooks.

Normally the girls were able to hear Flowey shifting. Leaves rustling, stem creaking just a bit, the background noise was constant when he was present. So they knew something was wrong when not a sound came from his direction. All three paused their search, switching their attention to their still friend.

His face was downcast, his voice but a whisper, "I'm not going to lie to you. This is just the beginning. The monsters we are going to face once we get past her are much, much, worse. They will try to kill you and there is a good chance they might succeed."

The foreboding prediction hung in the room, suffocating any action.

Millie was the first to break the silence, "We'll bring the pie."

At that, they all began to look again. There was nothing they could do to change the facts, just deal with them the best they could.

"I found one!" Eliza called, pulling a tupperware container and lid out of a corner cabinet and holding it above her head.

Renee ran over and grabbed it, and made quick work of fitting the pie in and sealing it.

"There. Now put it in one of your bags and forget about it." Flowey directed.

They all felt physically better once the pie was tucked away in Renee's bag, out of sight and out of mind.

"Now how do we get out? The front door is locked, and I didn't see a way out of here while Toriel led us here anyway." Eliza shifted uncomfortably on her feet. There were no clocks that she had seen in Toriel's house so far. There was no way to keep track of time, and she felt twitchy not knowing how long they had to escape.

Flowey was quick to respond, "There's a door down in the basement."

"Those stairs in the front entryway?" Millie spoke. It wasn't a question, just a plan.

The Flower nodded. "Meet you there."

They moved quickly back toward the front door, all desperate to get out as fast as possible. However, there was almost a feeling of joviality alongside their desperation. They were going to get out of there. They were making progress.

Any happiness there was faltered as they came upon Flowey glaring down their path to freedom.

"What's wrong, Flowey?" Renee kept some hope in her voice. Maybe he was just upset about something. He was a strange monster after all.

He let out a growl of frustration. "She's locked it. We're going to have to find the key."

Millie scoffed. "This little chain? Come on, we can just step over it"

She was stepping over before Flowey could even start his cry, "Don't!"

With a flash a light Millie went rocketing back into the wall behind them.

Shaking her head she pulled her foot up and rubbed it tenderly. "Ow! Ow. Ow. What was that?"

"A magic lock. I could just pop up past it, but there's no way for you to get through without the key." Flowey was put out. These humans were just going to get hurt every way possible, weren't they? Still… "I will get you through, somehow."

Eliza clasped her hands together. There had to be some way to solve this. "So, we have to find the key. Let's search. My best bet would be Toriel's room."

They all moved quickly down the hall, stopping when Flowey pointed at a door.

Millie reached out, grabbing the handle and turning. "Oh, great. Toriel's room is locked, of course. So now we have to find a key to get into a room to find a key."

A leafy hand touched the door, and Flowey grinned. "There isn't a barrier on this door. I'll just open it from the other side." He disappeared and the door swung open a second later. "Here we are."

It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the room. A light hung overhead, clearly lighting the entire space. Everything was visible. A queen-sized bed, a long dresser, a desk, and some blooming cacti. At first glance it appeared fine, but with a second it was clear the plants were dead, the brightly colored flowers they were sprouting fakes, glued on to give them a semblance of life.

Of course, no one would immediately feel at ease in the room, even if they didn't notice the plants, with the large mirror above the dresser shattered and their cracked reflections staring back at them.

"This is… pleasant." Renee swallowed her fear and stepped into the room.

Millie shook her head, not one for sugarcoating. "It's creepy, that's what it is."

Eliza was ignoring them, already giving the room a quick once-over search. Looking under the bed, her eyes latched onto something familiar. "Guys! Look! Our weapons!" She pulled out her quiver, sliding it onto her shoulder.

Millie rushed over, quickly accepting the bat that Eliza passed to her.

"I am never losing you again," Millie directed at the bat, stepping back and giving it one texting swing before resting it on her shoulder.

If Flowey could tap his foot, he would. Instead, he had to settle for anxious twitching. "Okay, that's great. Being armed is great. But look for a key!"

Spreading out like they had during the previous search of the kitchen, the three went through the room.

"Nothing." "Got anything?" "Nope."

"This drawer is locked." Renee tugged at the top dresser door.

"This is like a nightmare puzzle!" Millie growled, wandering over to try and help her friend bust it open. "Locks upon locks."

"Let me!" Eliza pushed them away, kneeling to look at the lock. "Oh, this one is so doable." She stood and grabbed a hair clip off of the dresser before turning her full attention to the drawer. A few minutes later, it popped open with a _click_.

She opened the drawer and stepped aside, showing her work. "Voila!"

A single book sat alone in the drawer.

Mille reached in, picking it up and flipping open the cover. "It's a diary. Toriel's diary?"

Renee grabbed it out of her hand and closed it. "We should leave that alone. It isn't our place. That's personal." She moved to put it back in the drawer.

"Don't you dare. If you won't read it, give it to me," Eliza pulled it from Renee's hands, flipping it back open to the first page.

"That's so wrong, Eliza. You shouldn't be doing that." Millie made a grab for the book as well.

Eliza sidestepped the attempted theft and leaned against a wall, already skimming the contents. "Somewhere it might say where she keeps stuff. Besides, we are all assuming that she's an absolute nutcase, but it would be easier to pass fair judgment if we have more information."

Eliza didn't like the idea but couldn't deny it's truth. "And, if absolutely necessary, it could give us something to use against her."

Flowey was nodding. "She's right. Toriel might have written where she keeps the key in there. But hopefully we will be out of here without ever having to see her again if we find the key first, so we should keep looking. Turn this room upside down!"

Eliza read while the others went back to searching.

"The first section of this starts with her talking about caring for a human that had fallen down." Eliza turned through a few pages, picking out the child's name repeatedly. "It really sounds like she loved them."

"Oh." Eliza stopped at a page shredded around the edges, the writing shaky. "But then they left through the door in the basement at night. She mourned them… says that their loss is like… what losing her real children had been like."

"I told you that reading that was too personal." Renee's voice oozed I-told-you-so, but not enough to cover her genuine sadness at hearing about Toriel's loss.

"This literally spans hundreds of years." Eliza flipped rapidly through the book, watching the dates jump, sometimes by as much as a decade. "Her handwriting slowly gets harder to read. This is a section with another child. They fell, and she took care of them. They were planning to stay, but then a 'demon flower' convinced them to 'betray her' and move forward. At this point she swears to kill that flower."

The three girls stopped at looked at Flowey. After all, who else could Toriel be writing about?

Flowey shrunk at the unwanted attention. "She was already beginning be unstable at that point. She hadn't hurt a kid yet, but something told me... Didn't matter anyway. They were captured and killed after they left." Flowey made a harried gesture, trying to move away from the topic. "Move forward. Keep looking."

"Another time another child… she killed this one when they tried to leave." Eliza's face is blank, at his point just giving the information as she reads it. "She mourned them, goes on about how she never wanted to hurt them."

"This is getting to be a bit too much, Eliza." Millie spoke, both her and Renee pausing from looking for the key.

"At this point she describes taking care of another child. Actually, it seems like this one stayed with her for years," Eliza can't help but smile a bit at the goat monster's words, "Toriel's handwriting gets better. She constantly describes how much joy this child brings to her life. She was finally happy. Oh!" Eliza gasped and pulled her gaze away from the journal.

"What?" Renee let out a whisper. She had an awful feeling.

Eliza looked back at the journal, disbelief lacing her voice. "She killed them in their sleep. She was too anxious that they might try to leave her. She says that at least this way they didn't hurt. Their soul could move on. It was a mercy killing, unlike the torturous death that would come from-"

"Asgore." Another voice interrupted, filling the girls and Flowey with dread.

The goat woman had an unreadable expression as she took a step into the room, and everyone's breath stopped.

Together, they had been caught red-handed.


	7. Souls and Promises

"I do not blame you, my children." Toriel spoke comfortingly, "This menace has led children astray before. When I was out I heard from someone else that they had spotted a yellow flash near my house, I rushed home immediately."

"I-I won't let you hurt them," Flowey straightened himself up, facing Toriel as she moved further into the room.

"I would never let harm befall my children. I will hurt you, however." Toriel's gaze became cruel, and as she raised her hand a ball of flame appeared.

"Uh, nope!" Millie suddenly ran between Toriel and Flowey, pulling her bat back, threatening to hit Toriel.

"Run, Flowey!" Renee called out to the Flower.

He stayed, his fear apparent, and not just for himself.

"We'll be fine. She isn't trying to hurt us right now. Just go!" Eliza tried to reason, desperate to get him out of there before Toriel considered hurting Millie to get to him.

He locked eyes first with Eliza, then Renee. "I'm sorry," and with that he disappeared.

Toriel's flame disappeared with the flower, vanishing in a clenched fist. "Why did you help him? He is just trying to take you from me. He will lead you to nothing but pain."

She reached for Millie, who did not lower her bat, but then pulled away.

"It does not matter. I cannot allow this anymore." Toriel let her hands drop to her sides. "I am going to destroy the path out of here. It does not matter that neither I nor anyone will ever be able to leave the Ruins."

"Toriel, please, don't. We have to leave." Renee begged, starting toward her.

The goat monster waved her hand dismissively, stepping back out into the hall. "Do not follow me, if you know what is good for you."

She could move really fast when she wanted. The girls dashed after her, catching up just as she reached the bottom of the stairs to the basement.

"I said do not follow me." Toriel paused and warned them, and hurried down the hall.

As the girls continued to follow her running form, she let out an unhappy growl. "Go back to your room."

They all finally came to room with a lone door on the other side.

Toriel turned away from the door to face them, blocking it and letting out an exasperated sigh. "There is no reason for you to be here. You are just going to see the door be destroyed."

"We can't let you do that," Millie's voice was cold.

Toriel scoffed, "You plan to fight me?"

"Only if you make us," Eliza's hand reached back and brushed an arrow.

Renee gave her friends a fearful glance before focusing on the monster. "We have to get back home, Toriel. Our families have to be worried sick."

"You do not understand. If you leave here, you will die," Toriel's arms spread, unconsciously or consciously trying to block the door, "You cannot understand. You have never fought down here. It is kill or be killed."

Millie groaned internally. Why was she making this so hard? "We know the risks, but you still have to let us leave. Please."

There was a pause as Toriel lowered her arms, folding her hands in front of her, brow furrowed in thought.

The girls shifted. Maybe she was going to let them go?

A smile crept across her face. "No. I will make you understand." Toriel's eyes lit with rage, desperation, and magic. "I will fight you. You may kill me and pass through. You will have proven that you maybe can survive the Underground. You may give up once you realize the error of your ways, and you will stay with me."

She got quieter, "Or, you will not give up and I will have to kill you. At least then you will truly pass on," Toriel laid a hand over her heart. "rather than your souls captured and put through torture on Asgore's order. Prepare yourselves."

With a flash of light, two fireballs were hovering at her side and in a flash Millie and Eliza were stood resolute in front of Renee.

"We don't want to hurt you, Toriel," Eliza drew back an arrow.

"But we will kill you if we need to for us to pass," Millie held her bat ready to strike.

Renee pushed at her friends, trying to go between them to talk more to Toriel and desperate to stop the fight. "Please! Everyone stop!"

"Do not waste your time talking! Attack before your enemy has a chance to! Do not let them have the first turn!" Toriel yelled, instructing them how to fight, the mother in her still trying to teach them.

A wave of fireballs came at them, Renee and Eliza spitting away from Millie as they dodged the onslaught.

Millie, on the other hand, stared through the fire at their attacker.

"There are no _turn_ s in fights," Millie suddenly ran directly toward Toriel. As she ran an orange light encompassed her, glowing much like the flames that she dodged persistently to get at Toriel.

Eliza and Renee watched in awed fascination as this warm light covered their friend, each letting out a small gasp as a matching orange heart appeared, hovering above Millie's head. It was almost enough to distract them from the flame that twisted itself directly into their friend's path. A strangled screech came from Millie as she realized that she noticed it too late to dodge and collided directly with it.

"Millie!" Eliza called, shooting an arrow at Toriel to try and somehow stop the attack, only for it to be vaporized by another fireball.

The attack passed right through her.

Renee kept back some relieved tears, "She's okay? How?"

There was a second of disbelief, Millie patting her torso, not finding any damage. Then she let loose a laugh, and now close enough to Toriel, took a swing with her bat and landed a blow. With a spin she was out of reach before Toriel could grab her.

"You- have an orange soul? I have seen one before." Toriel's voice was questioning, but it didn't stop her from sending another attack toward the trio, the brunt of it focused on Millie.

"I have no clue what that means, but I don't care either." Millie spoke confidently as she dodged most of the next wave of flames, but was unable to miss them all. One passed through her arm as she took a step toward Toriel again.

"Ha! But I have to assume it's what's giving me this power. Can't be too fond of that, can you- ah!" A fireball clipped her upper shoulder and she fell backwards.

"That power is not infinite, my child," Toriel almost seemed to pity the fallen human as she let loose another attack, this time entirely at Millie.

"No!" A green glow like their friend's orange surrounded Renee, a little green heart appearing above her.

Millie screamed as the fire came down on her, only for the fireballs dissipate as they hit a translucent green shield.

"You have a green soul? I have seen that before as well…" Toriel continued the wave of fire directed at Millie, and sent another wave at Renee.

Eliza had been moving to the side, trying to find a good place to shoot from without her arrow being incinerated. Panic filled her as she realized that Renee was focused on Millie, not herself. She didn't see the incoming attack.

"Renee! Look out!"

Renee saw it and, focusing, she tried to make another shield. As one started to come into focus in front of her, Millie's flickered. She stopped immediately.

Time slowed for Eliza as she watched from far too far away.

"I can't make another," Renee spoke, and then the attack was upon her. She dodged what she could, but the attacks came too fast. Eliza watched in horror as two fireballs hit Renee and she fell.

"My poor child. You cannot defend the others and yourself," Toriel sounded almost condescending.

That was too much for Eliza.

"What was that bull? She was helping someone else!" Eliza shifted and felt the knife in her boot, reminding her that Renee had never taken it back. That was just fuel for the fire. "She isn't even armed, and you attacked her anyway?"

As she pulled back an arrow she began to glow yellow, a yellow heart hovering above her head. "That isn't fair!" She released the arrow, and it passed through the fire attacks that Toriel sent her way, hitting home.

A yellow pulse went across Toriel originating from the arrow and she yelled, clutching her arm and chest where Renee had been hit.

"A yellow soul? All of you… are like others that have already came and gone," Toriel whispered, breathing heavy from the fighting and her injuries.

Renee sat up with a groan, "Tell us more about that, Toriel. What's going on with this soul stuff?" She gestured toward the small green heart that now glowed with less intensity above her.

In fact, both her and Millie's souls glowed dimmer than when they first appeared while Eliza's was still glowing strong. It probably had to do with who had been hit, Renee reasoned.

Toriel considered. They were just like the ones before. Just like before. She could teach them. She could.

She shook the thoughts off, trying to stay determined, "No, I cannot let sentimentality of the past stop me. Kill me to prove you can carry on. Prevent my suffering of losing more of my children. Or stay." Her voice became softer. "Please."

She stood tall, but her injuries were clearly getting to her. The attacks that she sent were completely inaccurate, Millie and Eliza dodged them easily and they were simply too far off to hit the sitting Renee.

"We said we can't stay Toriel," Eliza lifted her bow.

"And you know I speak for all of us when I repeat we don't want to hurt you." Millie rolled her injured shoulder before twirling her bat into a ready position.

"But you haven't given us a choice," she drew back an arrow.

"We have to move on. You're hurting us," Millie spoke matter-of-factly.

"I hope this counts as merciful," Eliza grit her teeth.

Eliza let loose her arrow and Millie ran in with her bat.

"Maybe you will be alright, my children," Toriel's magic started to form an attack, but it is far too slow to be sent out before they closed the distance between her. She was completely ready to die.

"No! Don't hurt her!" Renee lifted her hand. Before either of her friend's blows could land, a green shield appeared in front of Toriel.

An arrow halts in its tracks, falling to the ground. A bat bounces off the protective magic.

"Renee!" "Why?" "We had her!" "She hurt you!"

Renee waited patiently, not bothering to respond while they were yelling over each other.

Toriel began to speak the second Mille and Eliza completed their cries of outrage. "You saved me. Why would you save me?"

Renee stood and walked forward, the shield disappearing but the green glow around her as visible as ever, even if the green heart was glowing less.

"You need to listen, okay, Toriel? Please," Renee pleaded, but it came out much more like an order.

Toriel nodded, hands folding in front of her. A calm, something, has washed over the monster.

"What are you doing?" Millie asked, moving forward to stop Renee. "Don't you dare get yourself hurt."

Renee sent a small look at her friends that an imbecile could have deciphered as 'shut up'. Eliza and Millie understood, and fell quiet and into the background.

"You've done some really bad things Toriel," Renee started.

Toriel looked like she was going to interject, but Renee gave a scolding look and she stopped.

"You have. But I can understand why. That does not make them right in any form, but still. You've lost everything you care about. A mother should never outlive her children, but you did, and clearly this world has done nothing to help you cope with the loss."

Toriel was frozen, gaze locked on Renee. Renee took a step closer to the monster.

"You don't deserve death. I won't let my friends kill you. But you have to understand that you can't keep us here either. We are not the children you lost. Our real mothers are waiting, worried sick about us on the surface. You, as a mother, should understand."

Toriel's stare didn't change, but she did begin to cry silent tears.

Another step closer. "You need to find a way to be happy, Toriel. I really do wish the best for you, whether it be in the Ruins or somewhere else in the Underground."

Renee stepped forward one last time, reaching up to gently wipe at the goat monster's tears.

"Let go, Toriel. Let go of the past. It's gone. And let us go. You have to try and remember the good times, not try to replicate them."

Renee motioned for the others to come closer before pulling Toriel into a hug. Millie grabbed one of Toriel's hands. Eliza put her arrow away and smiled sympathetically, wishing she could offer more, but this whole mess isn't her forte.

Toriel pulled away from the hug, and smiled down at Renee. "I do not think I can forget the past, My chi- Renee. It is the past I see now, your kindness and understanding reminding me so much of my precious baby Asriel."

A moment of understanding went through the group as they realized that must be the name of one of her original children.

"Still, I feel that you have more than proven your skills. You may be able to survive, perhaps." Toriel appeared to be pondering, a hand nervously coming up to her mouth.

Eliza went for it. They had to take to opportunity. "Does this mean you are going to let us go?"

"I think I am. For many reasons," Toriel specifically looked kindly at Renee, "But there is one I should tell you before you go."

"What is it, Toriel?" Millie tried her best not to sound hurried or relieved. She hadn't let them go just yet.

"I never wanted to learn the exact horrors of collecting human souls to break the barrier," Toriel shuddered, "but before I secluded myself in the ruins, I did learn some things."

The three friends stepped back, giving her some space and ready to absorb whatever information she was willing to offer.

Toriel twiddled with her hands, "They need seven human souls to break the barrier, but they need seven _different_ human souls."

"Aren't all human souls different? They came from different people, therefore inherently different?" Eliza asked, trying to apply her knowledge of human biology to this whole soul nonsense. With what had happened during that fight, she knew that if they ever got out of the underground her college professors would be amazed.

Toriel let out a small laugh. "No. They need seven different traits. Whatever trait makes up the core of a human's soul is reflected in the color of their soul."

Toriel gestured toward the hearts that were still floating above them, pointing first at Renee's, then Millie's, and then Eliza's. "You all have main traits that have passed me before: kindness, bravery, and justice. If what I guess is right, none of your souls could help them break the barrier. They need a different one."

"Maybe this will give them a reason to let you pass, since you are useless." Toriel's eyes grew dark. "Or maybe it will give them an excuse to relentlessly torture you since they not need worry of damaging your souls."

There was an eerie silence in Toriel's story.

Millie took action, trying to get them out of there. They couldn't have her recant her decision to let them leave. "If there is a chance, we still have to try."

"Thank you, Toriel, for helping us. And for teaching us. We may be leaving you, but you have to know that we are leaving you better prepared to face what comes next," Renee tried to help make the monster feel like she was making the correct choice.

Toriel just shook her head, hands frenzied and rubbing together. "Please, just go. Now. Every second is making this decision harder to bear."

The group walked by Toriel, each of them touching her comfortingly as they passed her to go to the door.

"Renee. Millie. Eliza." Toriel spoke, her voice soft, as they just reached the door.

Hesitant, the girls turned to face her.

"Yes?" Renee, the undeclared Toriel-whisperer, decided to be the one to talk.

Toriel did not face them. "Do not come back here if you find terrors you cannot handle beyond that door. If you came back, I would be too certain you would try to leave me again. I would kill you." Toriel's voice was tired. Even she seemed exhausted by her twisted mental state.

"Understood," Millie turned on her heel, opening the door, "Let's go."

Eliza stopped after the others passed through, holding the door open. "Uh. I'll be right after you guys."

"Why?" Millie snapped, her fear for her friend coming out as anger.

"Seriously. Just go on and I'll just be a second," Eliza begged with her eyes.

"Okay…" Renee agreed, pulling Millie along with her.

"Whatever," the reluctant Millie muttered.

"Wait for me though!" Eliza called as they shut the door.

Toriel had her back to the door, not wanting to watch them go, but not yet ready to walk away.

"Toriel?" Eliza was trepidatious. She didn't want to be randomly attacked while the other's weren't in the room, but they couldn't be there for what she had to say.

Toriel didn't look at her, shifting on her feet. "Go on with the others, now. No need to keep them waiting."

Eliza took a breath. Toriel knew what she was like. She wasn't looking at them in case that caused her to change her mind or attack. She was sort of safe as long a Toriel didn't look at her.

"Look. I'm not good at the whole emotions thing. Making others feel better. Renee has it on lock, but I… anyway. I'm rambling." Eliza pulled herself together. "The point I'm trying to make is that I understand that you don't want us to get stuck being subjected to horrible tests or torture. I don't want my friends to go through that either."

Eliza paused, watching for any sort of response. Nothing.

"I won't let that happen to them. If it gets to the point where there is no escape, that's all there is for us, I will kill the others before I let them go through that forever."

Eliza felt sick to her stomach saying it, but she knew that it was true.

"Point is, I am not good at feelings, but I thought you would like to know that. It's my way of trying to help you. Because I would do what I said anyway, but now I'm promising it to you as well. I thought that you would want to know." Eliza stopped, still stiff and awkward as ever when it came to stuff like this, silently cursing herself for saying anything at all. "I'm leaving now. Goodbye."

Eliza was turning and pushing open the door, trying to make a quick escape from her social blundering, when she heard it.

"Thank you." It was quiet. Barely perceptible.

Eliza let a small smile creep to her lips as she closed the door behind her, before glancing back at her anxiously waiting friends.

"Well?" Millie tapped her foot impatiently, "What was that all about?"

"I was just promising her that I would protect you." _It isn't really a lie_ , Eliza reasoned, not that that would matter much to her.

Renee laughed and pulled the other two close, "Of course you will. We'll all protect each other!" She then began to pull them down the hall. "Now let's move! Flowey is probably waiting to see if we're okay!"

 _We will protect each other._ Eliza's mind drifted as her friend guided them quickly down the long path. _Please. Let us get through this._

And as they traveled the entire path to the next cavern, Eliza mentally begged over and over that she would never have a reason to act on that promise, and that they would somehow make it through it all safe and together.


	8. Spooky Scary Skeleton

Flowey would wait. He'd give them the benefit of the doubt. He'd stay, even if it was just for a little while.

There was always a chance that they would come walking down the hallway, clinging to each other like they always were. There was a chance that he wouldn't have to travel back to the ruins and see the bloodstains on the floor. A chance he wouldn't see the graves, freshly dug and marked with flowers.

As time inched forward, his petals began to droop. They were taking a long time. He knew when they asked him to flee they would end up fighting Toriel, but he had to leave. He was no use to them if the crazy goat had killed him right then and there.

He couldn't help but think that something had happened in the fight. He envisioned just two of them making their way slowly down the hall, one supporting the limping other. With how long the fight was going on, it was completely possible that Toriel had managed to kill one of them.

 _Or_ , an even worse thought crossed his mind. An idea of one of them emptily walking toward him, arms wrapped tightly around themselves and tear streaks staining their face.

While he knew how horrible they would feel, a darker part of him did whisper that it would be possibly easier to protect them and get them through the underground if there was only one. It didn't matter anyway, though. It seemed like there wasn't going to be any survivors, he tried to redirect his thoughts.

He was about to slink away, feeling sick about losing more people to the mess that was the underground, when he heard a noise.

It couldn't be. It was.

They were there. They were alive. They were singing?

"Hey! Look! It's Flowey!" Renee called as she spotted the yellow flower and they all ran over to him.

"Wha-how-and you-" Flowey sputtered in disbelief.

Millie rolled her eyes. "Did you really have such little faith in us?"

The flower swayed back and forth a bit, unsure whether it would be a risk to his own safety to explain what he was thinking. He figured it would do no harm, and if he really needed to he could vanish. "Yes. People don't make it past Toriel alive if they fight her. But you seem to have. You've finally killed her. And you're singing? Laughing?" His leaves twitched in agitation, "You may have darker souls than some of the monsters down here."

Millie looked offended, Eliza shocked, and Renee horrified. They all started to talk, not really over each other, but definitely finishing each other sentences.

"We didn't kill her!"

"She let us go."

"There were these things about our souls- they're like ones that the monsters already have."

"So that means that they probably can't be used to break the barrier."

"So she thought that maybe we would get a pass because we are essentially useless."

"But that wasn't the big thing. Renee is the real reason we're alive."

"No I'm not!"

"Yes, you are."

"She talked Toriel down. Really connected with her. That's the only reason she let us go."

Flowey couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You three got Toriel to let you go?"

"Well," Eliza shrugged, and shifted her bow in her hands, "That's the short version of it, but yeah."

"So what do we do next, Flowey?" Renee asked.

"I think that we go through that door, right?" Millie looked past the flower to a large door out of the passage they had been walking in forever. "Come on, guys. We should keep going and have Flowey talk while we move. The faster we get through the Underground the better."

Flowey bent sideways, creating a thin barrier to stop her from passing by him. "Why do I keep having to stop you from walking directly into dangerous situations?" he hissed.

"Well sor-ry. I guess the fear of dying and the slight possibility of suddenly being followed by a angry monster from the ruins maybe makes me want to get out of this hellhole as fast as possible. Just maybe." Millie placed a hand on her hips.

Renee wandered over and placed a hand on her shoulder, and she relaxed slightly. Millie sighed. "I shouldn't have snapped at you for helping us. I'm just on edge from the fight."

"So," Eliza interjected, "That door is clearly where we do have to go through. But what warnings or instructions do you want to give us before we get going?"

Flowey nodded and straightened back up. "There is usually a guard on duty this way, but before you arrived I did a small amount of reconnaissance. When I checked he was asleep at his post. The best plan would be for us to follow the marked path until we reach the town, and at that point we'll have to risk the woods. We'll have to avoid traps, but it's better than you being seen by the monsters in Snowdin."

The three hummed, absorbing the information.

"Wait. Snowdin? Is it cold out there? Like winter?" Renee took note of the town's name.

Flowey seemed to shiver out of memory. "Yes. It's a world of ice and snow out there for the first leg of the trip."

Renee pulled at the bag on Millie's back and, understanding, the friend set down her bat and shed the bag. She unzipped it, and digging through the bag, pulled out a hoodie for herself and Renee. She looked up at Eliza, "Do you want a hoodie, even?" She motioned toward the one left.

Eliza paused for a moment, but then shook her head no. "I'll be fine in my leather jacket."

"You guys are much more prepared than the others that fell down here," Flowey blinked, really taking in all of the stuff that they had with them for the first time.

"Thank Eliza for essentially demanding that we over pack everything," Millie snorted, remembering the friend insisting that they bring so much from their camp during their hike up the mountain. What seemed just like extra stuff to carry then was certainly a help now.

"Uh," Flowey paused. "I would give credit where it's due, but I don't know your names."

The friends gasped, suddenly realizing how rude they had been, even if it was because they were trying to avoid death.

"We're so sorry! I'm Renee," she placed a hand over her face, hiding her blush of embarrassment.

"Millie," Millie stated simply as she put back on the bag and picked up her weapon.

"And I'm Eliza," the blue-haired one put on a strained smile, almost physically pained by the fact that she had forgotten to introduce herself for so long.

"Renee. Millie. Eliza." Flowey stated. "Okay."

There was a weird silence to match the weird timing of the introductions before Millie broke it with a cough. "So. Is there anything else before we get going?"

"Not much, other than one thing," Flowey looked over the group. He hoped they would be up to the challenge.

"Well, what is it?" Eliza tapped a foot slightly, not taking the extreme pauses so well, and her impatience starting to show just a little bit. Weren't they on a time crunch? What if that guard woke up?

"You were unbelievably lucky when it came to Toriel. Once we get out there you have to understand that if you get in a fight you have to strike to kill. It is kill or be killed."

There would have been another quiet moment where everyone absorbed that foreboding information, but Eliza prevented that with a loud exclamation.

"Oh! Renee! I forgot!" she reached in her boot and pulled out the knife, handing it off to her friend.

Renee stared down at the knife for a moment before reaching back and tucking it into her bag. "We both know that I am going to have a hard time using that on anybody," she spoke in almost a whisper.

"I know," Eliza responded, pulling her into a quick half-hug, "But I don't ever want you to be weaponless in a battle ever again."

Flowey cleared his throat and they pulled away from each other.

"Let's get going," he announced.

All in agreement, they walked over and passed through the door.

The cold hit them like a physical wall, and coupled with the light reflecting off of the snow, they were temporarily halted as the door shut behind them.

As her vision cleared, Millie was the first that could see the snow-laden path in front of them and took the lead. She grabbed Renee's hand, who grabbed Eliza's, and they quickly made their way as a group through the straight and narrow trail. Flowey kept up with them, disappearing and popping up in front of them every few intervals.

It was deathly quiet. What would normally be jokes and whispers of comfort was absent. It would have felt out of place in their setting, because even the forest around them didn't make a sound.

That was probably why they heard the footsteps behind them.

They froze up at the crunching footsteps, but as they looked back they didn't see anyone.

"You heard that right?" they asked each other in quiet whispers before swallowing their fear and continuing forward.

A few moments later their worry was confirmed as Flowey popped up directly in front of them and spoke in a harried and hushed tone, "You're being followed. Pick up the speed. Go. Go. Go."

Their cautious and quiet walk became more of a jog as they tried to make their way along the path faster. They were so occupied with occasionally glancing behind them that Millie almost didn't catch herself before she ran into the gate. It was iron, lined with barbed wire and spikes.

"How do we get past this?" Millie scream/whispered at Flowey, everyone still being quiet as though that would help them.

"You have to go around it! Go into the woods!" Flowey started to direct before they realized that the constant footsteps behind them had stopped. It was too late.

" **don't you know how to greet a new pal? why don't you turn around and shake my hand?** " a deep, rumbling voice came from the figure that they could sense behind them.

Flowey froze, recognizing the voice, before glancing at the three terrified human friends. When he spoke it was almost inaudible. "Escape if you can, kill him if a battle starts. I'll find you if you make it." He disappeared, feeling sick to his nonexistent stomach. They weren't going to make it. Not now that _he_ 'd found them.

Their guide suddenly vanished and apparently an awful monster behind them, they looked to each other for support.

" **i'm waiting.** "

They turned around simultaneously to face who had been following them.

It was very much a surprise. A skeleton shorter than them faced them, hand outstretched and a grin spread across his face. He let out what have could have been a friendly chuckle. Even his attire couldn't really make them afraid, the dark clothes looking like something that could have been pulled directly out of Eliza's closet. Perhaps the only disconcerting thing about him was the shark-like teeth that made up his grin, a gold one sticking out amongst the rest.

In another time and place they all would've been less concerned, but Toriel had looked near-harmless too, so they just stood and stared, not really sure what to do.

His smile dropped a bit as the small red dots they assumed worked like eyes bounced between his offered hand and them.

Finally, taking a deep breath, Millie stepped forward. They needed to figure out how to get away from him, and if they tried running while he was like this he would easily catch them. That meant they needed to play along with his game even if it was for a little while. She took his hand.

"OW! Holy! Mother of! Dammit!" she pulled her hand away after he had grabbed it tightly, pressing something into it. Looking down, she could see rows of pins sticking into her palm.

His laughter was cruel and loud the moment she had taken his hand, and he didn't stop for a second. "i- can't believe- ya f*cking fell for- that! heheheheheh." He was having trouble catching his breath, however that worked for a skeleton, and what appeared to be red tears were forming around his sockets.

"Why?" Renee asked, shocked, as she helped Millie pull the pins out of her hand, "Why would you do that?"

"because it's f*cking hilarious, that's why. i'll tell ya, you're so stupid I almost gotta pity ya, but it's more fun to pull pranks," he answered as though it ought to be obvious. "anyway," he wiped away his tears, and let out one last chuckle, "you'll be coming with me. boss is goin' ta go berserk when he sees i caught three humans."

"You haven't caught us yet, you freak!" Millie let out a furious yell as she pulled the last pin out, "What makes you think we're going to go willingly?"

"well, i don't. i just have ways to make you come whether you want to or not," he shrugged, pausing before his eye lights brightened and his grin widened again, "in more ways than one." He laughed at his horrible joke while the three humans flinched.

But, this gave Eliza something to work with.

"I see your point," Eliza grabbed Renee and Millie pushing them behind her. She linked Millie's unhurt hand and Renee's, squeezing them together before stepping a bit closer to the skeleton. Understanding, they stood ready for some sort of signal.

"oh, yeah, sweetcheeks? ya see that it's makes sense to just give up, do ya?" he watched as she took a step closer.

"No," she sighed, stopping about a foot away from him, "I understand that you think you'll make us go with you by force if we don't choose to give up."

"i don't 'think'. i will," he growled.

"I'm sure," her sarcasm was thick. "Anyway. You say that's something you'd do. You know what else I've noticed you do? That you've admitted you do? You hurt people you haven't met before for no good reason. Do you know what that makes you?"

Sweat was forming on his brow, and the others could see his confusion growing as to just why she was getting this close to him. Eliza's moves were anything but concerning, and her words weren't direct threats. What was he supposed to do with that? He still tried to appear cocky and confident, however, leaning in her direction. "why dontcha tell me? what does that make me?"

She moved in, just barely leaving space between them. His breath caught as she leaned down a bit toward him, gently placing her hands on the front of his jacket. "That makes you," her knee flew up _hard_ to where private parts would be, and she suddenly grabbed the fabric she had been touching, using it as leverage to shove him backwards onto the ground, "an absolute d*ck!"

She turned on her heels and booked it, running after Millie and Renee, who had already started dashing into the woods.

" **YOU F*CKING B*ITCH!** " they could hear him roar.

They ran and ran until they found the where the wall ended, starting to turn to make the pass, they were going to make it, they were nearly away, nearly free, when they froze. They couldn't move, a red light surrounding their bodies. The same force turned them so that they were facing him.

One hand glowed with the same red color as he stalked toward them, and one of his eyes had become like a ball of flame. His smile was twisted, livid. "you're lucky i'm not allowed to kill ya. but i will take great pleasure in hurtin' ya just enough that i don't."

Their souls reacted to the threat, forming above their heads, ready to help them if they had been able to fight.

Sans chuckled as he saw them start to take shape. He wondered which one of them would have the soul the king needed. He hoped it was that b*tch who'd managed to hit him, managed to catch him off guard. He glared at the place above her head, hoping to see a color he hadn't seen before.

"huh," he grunted. Yellow. Made sense. Unfortunate, but made sense. hey, he reasoned to himself, maybe that just meant that boss would let him torture her.

His eyes glanced lazily over to the other two. An orange for the one that shook his hand, that was understandable. Green for the one that had been helping her friend. Made sense for what he had seen of her. Yep. Their actions lined up with what he already knew about their souls.

Wait a minute. Their actions lined up with what he already knew about their souls. All three of them.

"f*ck!" he yelled, "motherf*cking son of a b*tch for f*ck's sake…"

The skeleton kept cursing for awhile, and they were all thinking the same thing. He had seen their souls. He knew that they couldn't be used to escape the underground. What was he going to do?

He stopped the string of profanities after a minute or so, face directed toward the ground.

The air was heavy as he looked up to face them. His eyes were dark, his smile empty. " **you've ruined everything.** "

The three girls saw a flash of red and felt a pain through their souls as they passed out together.


	9. Spooky Scary SkeletonS

Millie woke with a groan, moving to stretch out the kink in her back. She reached up, her arms being halted by a jolt and a _clang_ before she could stretch them to their full length.

Lowering her hands back down to eye level, she took in the shackles on her wrists with a furious glare. Following the short length of chain, she saw that each one connected to the wall behind her, giving her nearly no room for movement.

Looking around, she had a moment of relief as she noted Renee and Eliza were still with her, albeit out of reach further down the wall. Chained as well, clearly, Millie noted, taking in Renee's identical set of cuffs. At least their captor hadn't separated them, but this was still definitely not where they wanted to be. At least they all were still alive: Renee breathing gently and Eliza shifting slightly in her sleep.

No. Wait a minute. As Eliza shifted, the chain holding her became visible: a single band of metal around her neck, held to the wall by maybe a foot and a half of chain. Like a dog. That monster had the gall to chain up her friend like an animal?

"I am going to kill that skeleton!" Millie yelled aloud, tugging on her bonds.

A chuckle from a dark corner beyond the bars of their cell stopped her actions as said skeleton stepped into view.

"a bit rude talkin' about someone like that, 'specially after i went through the effort of healing ya up while ya were passed out," he did his best impression of offense.

"If you healed us the only reason you had to was because you were the one that hurt us! And you think we should owe you thanks because of it? What kind of screwed up logic is that? You think that it's rude? I'll say it again: I'll kill you." Millie couldn't believe this idiot's shtick. She wished that he would get over there so she could wring his bony neck.

"i think that ya would have a hard time with that right now, orange, with all three of ya tied up so nice." He shrugged. "ya know, we never expected so many of ya to fall at once. i did have to make a few compromises when it came to chaining you all up. there was only a set up for two prisoners."

He glanced amusedly at Eliza, and vanished, reappearing on their side of the bars. He lazily meandered toward her. "but once upon a time boss had wanted and gotten materials for a pet human to torture, and there was stuff left over from that. i don't know. i think that it's actually rather suiting for the b*tch." He punctuated his sentence with a rough kick in Eliza's side, teleporting back out of the cell before the suddenly woken girl could react fast enough to retaliate.

She did jerk toward his direction, meaning to punch him or something, but only managed to jar her neck and lose her breath. He keeled over laughing while her hands flew up at the pain.

"What the f*ck?" she pulled lightly at the metal 'collar' with her hand.

"yeah. puttin' you, yellow, in that was a _dog_ gone good idea." He straightened up, "anyway. i'm goin' to go get boss. he wanted to see you all when ya woke up, and since you two are awake the other one should be comin' round shortly."

He turned and wandered over to a door. "i'll be back. don't ya go anywhere." He was chuckling again as he closed the door behind him.

"He's insane," Eliza stated blandly, acceptance washing over her as she leaned back on the wall.

Millie started to speak, but at that moment Renee shifted and opened her eyes, jumping immediately from half-conscious to panicking. "Guys? You're here! Oh thank heavens."

"Yep. We are all here and alive, but captured again. And in this case there isn't a semi-kind monster trying to give us a home even if she was trying to kill us." Millie couldn't believe she was looking back on Toriel almost fondly at this point.

"It seems like no one down here is sane," Eliza sighed, closing her eyes. They needed to think of some way for them to get out. But how?

Renee, having just woken up, pulled on her chains in a testing manner, "There's Flowey."

"Oh yes," Millie threw her hands up slightly in the air, "There's Flowey, who's left us twice to die. Totally sane."

"He probably has his reasons! I say we give him another chance once we get out of here. Maybe he'll even help us escape." Renee tried to appear hopeful, but Millie was right. Why did he keep leaving them?

Eliza interrupted before anyone could say anything else. "Guys, shush. I think I can hear something."

It became obvious what she heard as the door swung open, inviting in the cold air and what remained of a conversation. Two voices drifted in, but no one entered.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU CAUGHT THREE HUMANS. AND YOU, YOU OF ALL THE WORTHLESS SCUM MANAGED TO CATCH THESE HUMANS ON YOUR OWN."

"you **know** i've caught humans before."

"WHAT WAS THAT?"

"nevermind, boss, but I've been trying to tell ya, these humans…"

"WITH THESE WE HAVE THE FINAL SOUL TO BREAK OUT OF THE UNDERGROUND AND BEGIN OUR REVENGE AGAINST HUMANITY.

"but, boss, that's what I've been trying to tell ya, they aren't…"

"NOW SHOW ME OUR PRISONERS!

"but, boss!"

"NOW!"

At this the small skeleton walked into the room, followed by another. Although this skeleton wasn't small. He would have towered over the tallest of them standing. Not to mention that everything about him was pointy, threatening, and screamed authority, including a dark armor of some kind or another. The first skeleton wasn't enough to scare them, but this one was pushing it. He unlocked the cell and stepped inside, followed by the first.

This new skeleton, the one the first called 'Boss', closed the door behind him and surveyed the three friends with cold eyes. His volume dropped in a serious manner, "Now which one of you has the soul we need? Or do more than one of you?"

He summoned what must've been an attack, red bones hovering in the air beside them.

The souls recognized that magic, that color, that threat, and formed quickly, feeling they were needed.

His perfect cold shattered in anger as he observed the three souls "…or _none_ of you? SANS!"

The small skeleton, apparently 'Sans', stepped back a bit, wringing his hands, "that's what i've been trying to tell ya boss. none of them have the right soul."

Boss swung a gloved hand toward Sans, not close enough to actually hit him, but enough to make the smaller skeleton flinch. "You useless trash! You've brought me three useless humans!"

Sans glared, half scared half defiant, up at Boss, "i don't control who falls in the underground!"

This back and forth continued to the point that Boss had made his magic attack vanish, and the three human's souls had disappeared back where they should be.

Renee took a deep breath. Talking had worked with Toriel. They at least had to give it a try here.

"Uh, guys," she interrupted the bickering duo, "We don't have the right souls. So why keep us here? Wouldn't it make more sense to let us go?"

This statement did cause both skeletons to pause, sharing a glance. They then broke into laughter together.

"ya might not have the right main color, but with three of ya we might be able to get enough of what we need. dunno, we'll just have to see what doctor alphys says." Sans then directed his attention toward Boss, "which is what i was tryin' to tell ya."

Boss elected to ignore Sans, instead continuing to focus on Renee. "Besides, in the slight possible case we may not be able to use your souls, you still must be punished."

"What for?" Millie interjected.

Boss looked at her like she was an idiot. "Humanity's crimes against monsterkind. The war. Trapping us in the Underground."

Eliza let out a frustrated sigh. "Oh yeah. Punish us for our ancestor's crimes that we didn't even know about until, like, less than a few days ago. Completely fair."

Boss nodded, "You are quite right human."

"i think that she might be saying- you know what never mind." Sans noted her sarcasm and started to speak up before deciding that it wasn't worth the effort.

It was Millie's turn to laugh like a psycho. Maybe this place was rubbing off on all of them. "You think we are going to sit here and take punishments for crimes we didn't commit? You have another thing coming. We will fight you every chance we get. In fact, I'd fight you right now. Unchain me so I can pummel you, you coward!" She made quite a show, straining at her restraints, desperately trying to get closer to either skeleton, trying to hit them somehow. But, frustratingly, they were both out of reach.

"Hmmm. The orange soul is certainly- orange." Boss stared at Millie with mild amusement. "No, human. I'm not going to let you go just so you can try to fight me and be defeated. It would be a waste of my time."

"Waste your time? Keeping us here is a waste of your time!" Millie snarled. He was so certain that he would win, even if the fight was fair, huh? Well now she was going to be looking for every opportunity to prove him wrong.

Renee didn't like begging, but maybe she could use his ego against him. "Please let us go. It is a waste of your time. Surely someone like you has something more important to be doing than handling three useless humans. Please, there's no reason to keep us here."

"Nyeh! The green is just as expected as well. Soft. Weak. I wonder if my theory holds true. I wonder if a green soul breaks easier," he had a sickening excitement around him. "No, human. It wouldn't be a waste of my time to have you around. I would just use my free time to torture you."

"You touch any of us and you're going down!" Millie yelled, partially just to draw the attention off of Renee.

"I hardly think that you could hurt me," he smiled, drawing attention to his sharp teeth.

"Watch me!" Millie spat in his direction.

His smile disappeared instantly as he stepped out of the way of the flying projectile. "That was hardly necessary, orange."

"I just don't understand. Why are you doing this? We aren't the ones that have done you wrong," Renee murmured.

"You don't understand?" Boss leaned in, getting closer than comfort but still not close enough for her to hit him, "You want to know why? Why you when you've done nothing wrong? Why were all monsters punished because of nothing? Because of a few humans' fears? Can you give me a good answer to those?"

Standing back up, Boss looked to Sans. "Send word to Alphys that we will be bringing the three humans to her lab tomorrow for her to start testing. Warn her that one of them is an orange soul and may cause problems. The green shouldn't be as much of an issue. As for the last-" he paused. "The yellow has been oddly silent. Docile, almost."

Boss walked over, facing toward Eliza, who had her head down since he walked in. "Is this one your favorite? Is that why she is the one tied up like this? I would normally assume that the chains were random, but nothing normal can be expected of **you**."

"oh f*ck no, boss," Sans looked legitimately offended, "not even f*cking close. i hate that b*tch."

"Oh, really?" Boss' voice was always condescending. It was almost enough to make the others feel bad for Sans. But not quite. "And what did this human do that earned her the title of least favorite?"

Sans let out a growl. "stop that sh*t. there are no f*cking favorites, no f*cking least favorites. i just hate her." He pointed a finger at Eliza. "do i really need a f*cking reason to hate one human more than another? maybe i just don't like her face."

"Sans," Boss scoffed, "We both know you are too lazy to bother treating one of them different than the others without reason. So tell me."

Sans' face grew dark. "seriously. drop it, boss. there's nothing that you need to worry about."

"I am your superior," Boss pulled himself up to his full height, glowering down at Sans, "You will tell me what happened. THAT IS AN ORDER."

Sans didn't freeze under the look, rather, he smirked, a smile twisting with frustration. "an order? fine. bc you f*cking ordered," he shoved his hands in his jacket pockets, "i guess i have to tell you that i let this bitch get the better of me and i let her get close to me because she was f*cking leading me on and then she hit me and actually knocked me over and that sh*t counts as two blows and i guess then that i'm feeling pretty f*cking lucky right now that she isn't the best at hitting because you know what could happen to my f*cking useless weak self and so yeah i might f*cking hate her just a little more than the others."

At the end of the breathless rant, Sans dropped his eyes away from Boss, appearing ashamed of something. "so yeah. the human fooled me. slightly my fault." But then he looked toward Eliza, the blazing eye they had seen before springing to life for just a moment. "but she's still a b*tch. isn't that right, you c*nt?"

Renee wasn't quite sure to make of Boss' expression. She could've sworn there was concern, but it almost immediately melted away into pure, blazing, anger. "YOU KNOW BETTER THAN TO ALLOW SOMEONE TO LAND A BLOW." He raised a hand, covering his eyes with his glove, before letting it drop with the return of his frozen demeanor. "We will discuss your punishment later."

He then bent before Eliza, placing one pointed claw of his glove underneath her chin as he made her look up at him. "As for right now, don't you have something to say? Some way to beg for your life like the others?"

Millie couldn't believe how close Boss got to Eliza. She could easily hit him, do something. Not deal with his demeaning nonsense.

Renee was terrified. She could tell Boss got intentionally close to Eliza. Maybe he was planning on hitting her if she attacked him. Maybe he was going to hurt her no matter what. Was it better for Eliza to stay still or to try something? She just didn't know.

Made to look up, Eliza searched the overconfident skeleton's face before settling, staring directly the directly into the black pits of his eyes. "My friends have done nothing to you, and if you hurt them, I will make sure you regret it for whatever little remains of the rest of your miserable life."

Boss' confident aura faltered a noticeable degree, causing Sans to half-laugh. "she got ya, boss."

A sudden strike across Eliza's face and a glare in his direction was enough to get Sans to shut up and the other two humans to gasp. But, as Boss stood and looked back down at the girl, she hadn't reacted.

She was still staring at him with the same near-blank expression. "Hurt me. I can take it. I will take it. I did hit Sans. But if you hurt them, that will be another story."

What was the deal with this human? These weren't stated as threats. She said it all as fact. What made her so sure? And he felt sick in his bones as he realized that he had seen that look on only one person before. A gaze that said he was one-hundred percent ready and willing to die trying to protect someone, even to the point that his own life didn't quite matter anymore.

But he couldn't look back at his brother right then.

He had to regain traction, stay confident, stay strong. He had to be the one in control and he would hurt them all, there was no stopping that. He couldn't let her make him feel anything. "So what would you have me do, human? Let the others go and keep you to punish?"

"No!" both of the others yelled.

"Yes." Eliza nodded. "At least in some way it makes sense to make me pay for hurting Sans. The other two haven't done anything. Not to mention the fact that even if they had, I could take the responsibility. Renee is incredibly young; she just finished her round of basic schooling. In human society, she isn't really even considered an adult yet. And Millie," Eliza sent a small look to her elder friend, begging her to stay silent, "Is also younger than me by a few months. By default, if you want to look for a 'leader' in this group, it would be me. And, therefore, they are my responsibility."

Millie was going to kill Eliza if they ever got out of this. In a nice way. But she still was going to kill her. There was no way that Eliza should be taking the responsibility for everything, but Millie was too worried that her friend might be punished for lying. So, she remained silent.

"Nyeh heh heh! I'm never going to let any of you three go. But, I'll tell you what, if somehow you three don't have enough of what we need, you will probably be given to various high-ranking members of the underground. I'm certain that the scientist Alphys will want one of you to do experiments on; Undyne will probably want one of you to test for the best ways to hurt a human without killing them."

He mimicked pondering for a second. "It's debatable where the last of you would go. You could go to Mettaton's show and be chopped to bits for the delight of the gore-driven audience. You could be sent to the king, as he would probably delight in the chance to actually destroy a human soul."

"But," he walked back over to Sans, gently patting the smaller skeleton on the head, "As you said, you did try to hurt him. And you seem to be so eager for punishment. I'm sure that if I requested it we would be able to keep you. I always wanted a human. And I'm sure Sans would want to make you hurt as well."

Sans' eye-lights brightened at Boss' offer to keep the human and locked on Eliza. "i want to break her."

"So, yellow, in a way, you win. I probably won't directly hurt your friends. But other people definitely will. And you won't be able to help them, because you will be too far away and too busy taking the hurt you so wish upon yourself."

That thought was enough to scare Eliza a bit, break her resolve just some. But she couldn't let her gaze drop, couldn't let the mask slip. She had to win this battle or she would never be able to manipulate or mess with the tall skeleton. So she continued to stare blankly, hoping that he couldn't see the fright in her eyes.

Boss searched for any sign that he had gotten to her, but she just continued to look the same way in his direction. It was hard to get through this girl. She had fortitude. _Well,_ he thought to himself, trying to make some light of the situation _, if it's so hard to get her to react, at least my brother will have some fun trying to break her._ Speaking of his brother…

"Now, Sans," Boss said and the smaller skeleton came to a half-attention behind him, "Please do deliever that message to Alphys. Add that the yellow soul may cause issues if they are around to see the testing done on the others."

"yes, boss," Sans was stupidly happy, gathering what Boss had said, but at the same time only half there. Anyone in the room would guess that he was busy trying thinking of all the different ways he could hurt a human. He turned to start to leave, the widest grin possible still on his face.

"And Sans," Boss called as Sans had reached the door.

"yes, boss?"

"Do not forget that you still must be punished for your stupidity when you get back."

Sans' grin didn't vanish, but it changed, what was once joy now looking more like masked pain. "yes, boss." And he left.

Boss didn't say anything else. He stayed for a few moments, observing the three, and then he also left, locking the cell door behind him as he went.

"I don't know what we're going to do," Eliza sighed as the door closed, fear and sadness and anger finally sweeping her face.

Renee tugged lightly at her chains, at that moment not wishing to escape, but wishing that they weren't so far from each other. They all needed comfort. They needed each other.

And they all sat pondering Boss' words, fearing a time when they would no longer be together.


	10. The Lab

They stayed up trying to brainstorm, trying to think of anything that could get them out of this mess. But nothing they thought of worked.

Their chains were too short to really allow them the mobility needed to chip away at their holdings. Renee had the brilliant idea of having Millie try to phase through the shackles like she had with the fireballs during the fight with Toriel. It took them long enough to figure out how the hell to make their souls appear at will. (It turned out that they just needed to make themselves feel threatened, which was beyond easy in the situation they were in). But it seemed like whatever Millie was able to do only worked during fights.

There was also the faint wish as the day went on that Flowey might come to help them, but as time passed that possibility seemed less and less likely.

So, after awhile, they gave up only slightly, hoping that a better opportunity to escape would come up.

And all of them had things that they wanted to discuss with each other. Thinks to yell at each other. Things they wanted to explain. But they knew that the cell wasn't a private space, and the skeletons could show back up at any moment. They had already felt anxious enough when Boss dropped in for a second to glance at them.

So they made small talk. How the hell magic weather worked underground. More stories of how Renee's last year of high school had gone. What color Eliza was going to dye her hair next.

Some of the discussions surrounding the straight-up weirdness of the underground got Renee thinking, mind wandering as the other two discussed something in the background. How did time work down here? How long had they been down here? It was like, one day at Toriel's- sleep for a night (?). And then more time at Toriel's and then meeting Sans and then passing out for maybe a night (?). And then meeting Boss and dealing with that and they'd been hanging out for most of a day (?). And Boss said that they would be going to a lab 'tommorrow'? So they had already been there for like, three days? A little less? Anyway. It was too long.

It got to a point where there wasn't anything to do and nothing that any of them could say and at some point they must have all drifted off via boredom. It wasn't that they noticed falling asleep particularly, they just definitely noticed waking up.

 _CRASH!_ The door swung open. "HUMANS! IT IS TIME TO GO. SANS. RELEASE THEM FROM THEIR CHAINS!"

There was no rubbing the sleep out of their eyes or slow half-awake movements, the three of them immediately at full attention. Their eyes traced Sans' movements as he opened the cell door and he and Papyrus walked in. Why did he stop in the middle of the cell? Wasn't he going to undo the chains? What was going on?

With a snap of his fingers their bonds fell loose, and within less of a second they were in a group hug.

"Are you okay, darling?" Eliza pulled the others away from her to look over them both, focusing first on Renee. The youngest was barely able to nod before Eliza turned her attention to Millie, "And you, dear? Sh*t!" She grabbed Millie's hands before she could complain, examining the marks that had formed where the shackles had sat.

Millie tugged her hands away, grabbing Eliza by the shoulders. "They really will be fine. I barely feel it. How about you and that awful bruise on your neck?"

Hand flying up reflexively, Eliza flinched as she touched sensitive skin. "Didn't even notice it."

"ya shouldn't have been pulling. green over there was a good girl, an' cause of that she didn't get all marked up." Sans chuckled as Renee paused midway looking at the bruises on her friends.

"I… wasn't 'good'." she whispered, concern spreading over her face, "Was I? Did I just go along with everything too easily?"

"No, no, no, darling." Eliza assured her, "You did what made sense. Clearly Millie and I getting hurt didn't do any good, now, did it?"

"You leave her alone!" Millie turned angry to the small skeleton.

Sans shrugged. "i was praisin' her, wasn't i?"

There was a heavy pause, the tension in the room thick enough to cut with a knife, before Papyrus decided that he was done with that.

"WELL THEN," Boss gave a sharp nod and folded his hands behind his back, "We must get to the lab at once. Sans, when you are ready."

Sans started at his name, looking confusedly at Boss before realization dawned on him. "ya want me to teleport all of ya? i-i'm not sure-"

"YOU FREQUENTLY BOAST OF YOUR MAGICAL PROWESS AT THAT GREASE PIT GRILLBY'S. I'M SURE YOU ABLE TO TELEPORT THE FIVE OF US TO HOTLAND. OR ARE YOU NOT STRONG ENOUGH? ARE YOU JUST A WEAK MONSTER THAT HIDES BEHIND THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS LIKE MOST OF THE GUARD SAYS?" There was a slight curl of his smile, somewhere between a smirk and sneer.

Gaze hardening, Sans let out a snarl. "they have no idea what they're talkin' about. i could dust all of 'em."

"THEN YOU SHOULD BE MORE THAN CAPABLE OF THIS."

"fine," Sans was clearly stubborn to prove himself, "everyone get over here."

The three girls hesitantly approached, trying to keep some distance between them and the skeleton. He was having none of that.

"come'ere," his arm snapped out much faster than any of the girls would have guessed possible, hand latching to Eliza's wrist and jerking her to his side. "i'm not losin' ya before i get the chance to see ya hurtin'."

Eliza winced. "You're already on the right track. That's my bad wrist, could you not?"

 _Shoot._ She shouldn't have said that. It just popped out because of the habit of reminding her forgetful brother when he would start roughhousing.

"bad wrist? oh, really now?" His eye lights brightened, looking for a reaction as he tightened his grip.

Eliza wouldn't give him the pleasure. She fought mentally against the shooting pains, barely managing to keep a straight face. He watched for a few seconds before realizing that it was a lost cause and turned toward the others with a sigh. (He still didn't loosen his skeletal fingers digging into Eliza's skin, however, much to her dismay.)

"the rest of ya get over here, now. grab a hold of my arm and hang on tight- unless ya particularly want to get lost in the nothin' fallin' through black until the end of time." He gestured toward the arm holding Eliza, and the others obliged, the thought (or threat) of that fate enough to temper their fear for the moment.

Sans then offered his other hand to Papyrus. "let's go then. boss?"

"Quite. We shouldn't waste time." He ignored the outstretched appendage, instead resting his hand on Sans' shoulder. He curled his fingers, and from Sans' startled wince the girls could guess that Papyrus had grabbed his collarbone through his shirt, and that it was less than comfortable.

"alright," his coughed, playing off the pain and dropping the ignored arm, "five to hotland."

They were falling. It was less than a second, but it was filled with the most indescribable terror. It felt like the dark was trying to pull them all apart, and the girls, panicked, dragged themselves closer to the solid center.

And, just like that, it was over.

The ground hit their feet hard, and the disorienting white of their surroundings also threatened their balance. Blinking, they all continued to cling to whoever they had grabbed onto in the void.

"there," the shape next to them rumbled, "the royal scientist's lab."

They realized with mortification as their vision cleared that they all had latched to Sans the best they could.

"look," the skeleton turned toward the mass of humans on his side, "as flattering this is, **get off of me**."

Snapped out of their shock, the three scrambled away only for Sans to falter almost immediately. As he started to fall he was stopped only by Papyrus' hand, still wrapped around his collarbone.

Sans was exhausted from the trip, they realized, and probably would have fallen over the second they arrived if they hadn't been propping him up.

Papyrus, meanwhile, looked entirely unfazed by the trip through terror itself, still standing tall and proud. With a tug, he kept Sans upright. "Snap out of it, you lazybones. Don't give the scientist another excuse to ask for you as a test subject."

Sans' face flashed with fear for a moment before he settled into a veil of mirth. "i-i'm okay, boss. no _bones_ about it." He laughed before flinching again, "i'm sorry! i know we talked about the jokes. i'm sorry."

Papyrus narrowed his eyes. "Indeed we have. Try to pull yourself together." Finally releasing his hold on Sans, he let out a call into the large, white laboratory they had appeared in. "DOCTOR ALPHYS, WE HAVE ARRIVED."

There was only a brief pause before a squeal echoed to them, followed by the distant sound of something being dropped.

The skeletons looked unperturbed by this, while the three humans shared confused looks.

There was faint shuffling as a spot of yellow made its way out of an adjacent hallway and skittered across the long room. It only stopped once it was in front of them. "Vice Captain P-Papyrus! I must ap-pologize. I didn't think you'd be arriving until much later."

Eliza, Millie, and Renee all looked down at this small yellow dinosaur with nervous hands, and had no idea what to make of her. This was the horrible scientist that they had been warned about? A little lizard who's only 'edgy' gear was crazy spiral goggles, and who spoke with a stutter?

"WELL, THAT DOESN'T MATTER. WE ARE HERE NOW."

"I'm j-just surprised you got here so quickly. Did you-" she stopped and reached a clawed hand toward the girls, mouth agape as she noticed them. "A-are those my t-test subjects? Oh my stars. Three adult humans? The things we c-could learn…"

It wasn't that what she said was particularly menacing, but it was still laced with just enough suggestion to make the girls wary.

"PLEASE REFRAIN FROM GOING OFF ON ONE OF YOUR EXPERIMENTAL RAMPAGES, DOCTOR ALPHYS. JUST DO THE TESTS YOU PROMISED THE KING." Papyrus suddenly pushed the three humans in her direction.

"Yes, s-sir!" she nodded sharply before turning her full attention to the humans.

"H-here," she offered a hand to Renee, who had stumbled and fallen when Papyrus shoved her.

Renee hesitantly accepted, and Alphys helped her up. "Thank you," the youngest human murmured.

Eliza and Mille were concerned for a moment, ready to jump to Renee's aid, before stopping as Alphys just stood there, gently holding their friend's hand.

"If you would p-please follow me," she started walking Renee toward the hall she had come from.

They followed her, everything silent for a moment other than the click of her clawed feet on the tile floor. Then she excitedly started talking a mile a minute.

"So it's r-really great to have you three here. I'm so g-glad that you fell. I m-mean, it's awful for you, but like I said, there is so much we c-could learn from studying adult humans! The other six that fell before you were all k-kids, so there isn't much that we have recorded on full grown humans. Think about it! When we were first t-trapped down here many things were recorded before they c-could be forgotten, but human souls and biology? There isn't much! It wasn't important. B-but I think that it's just fascinating. It's too bad that remembering and recording science was so disregarded. I m-mean, they were focused on just surviving, but that doesn't mean you d-don't let some people die to preserve knowledge, right? Oh! Th-through this door here, now."

She stopped and wandered into a medium sized room, motioning for them to go over to a corner with an examining table, before darting over to another corner to grab some materials.

Millie's eyes were immediately flying around the room, looking for something she could attack the thick scaled doctor with. They were far enough away from the skeletons that maybe they could make some sort of attempted escape if they took out Alphys. There had to be something she could use to knock out the seemingly weaker, albeit slightly unbalanced monster.

There was nothing of use next to them. Alphys was standing directly next to any medical tools that might have been usable. There was a large computer sitting in the room, but not as large as one she had seen in the first part of the lab. The walls were lined with papers covered in nearly indistinct scrawl. Most of it was nonsense she couldn't quite make out about souls, but a page or two seemed to be about a mew-mew something? It didn't matter, Millie shook her head, look for some sort of weapon. What else was there? There was some sort of tube filled with something in the corner next to them. It was filled with something that hard to make out, a form of some sort, and it was turning slightly; maybe she could get a better look-

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed, feeling bile start to rise in her throat as she realized what she was looking at.

"What's wrong, Millie?" Renee rushed over, and her gaze followed Millie's shaking pointed arm.

There, in the tube, floated what little remained of a human corpse, if it could still be called that. Both legs were missing, and the torn flesh around the wounds seemed to still be decaying and trying to float away from the body. A large hole was a dark mess in the middle of its chest. The skin of the head was only half there, what looked like burns marking the crisp edges. But even the side of its face that still had skin wasn't unmarked; it matched the other side with an empty socket, blankly looking in their direction.

And Renee too felt sick, not only because of the horror of the gore in front of them, but also because the body was unmistakably a toddler.

Alphys scurried back over to their side of the room, arms filled with a few tools. "I-is something wrong? I heard one of you c-call out."

Millie was frozen for a moment, stuck in her abject horror, before snapping herself out of it with a snarl. "You're disgusting."

"Oh," she slumped, "I d-don't really know what I did to make you f-feel that way. B-but you're free t-to feel that way about me."

"It…" Erika paused, trying to collect herself, "They were a child." She directed Alphys' attention to the body.

Alphys made a small _hm_ , fingers tapping slightly on the items in her hands. "That was one of the humans that fell. I d-didn't manage to take a look at him while he was alive, he managed to get through the underground at a r-rather spectacular rate. It d-didn't matter though. Asgore did a r-real number on him. I w-was lucky that the king let me h-have the body for study."

Eliza shrugged, placing a comforting hand on each of her friend's shoulders. The science major thought that it was terrible, but understood where the doctor was coming from. Plus, standing around and talking about it wasn't going to make anyone feel better. "So what exactly are these tests going to be like, doctor? I won't exactly take kindly to you hurting my friends."

Alphys was glad that Eliza had changed the subject, and gave an excited grin. "The t-tests shouldn't take very long! Most of the processing is done by the computer anyway. I created this great algorithm that can analyze the properties of a soul in just a few minutes…" She rambled a bit more while leading them over to the examination table and had them sit on it.

"Look, that is all very neat," Renee interrupted politely, having only half understood the nerdy dinosaur's scientific ramblings, "but you didn't explain whether they would hurt."

Alphys stopped, and sheepishly looked down at one of the tools in her hand. "W-well. The first part, from what I've seen, can be r-rather painful. B-but it's for the overall good of science! It j-just hurts forcing a human's soul to form outside of their body without there being a fight, but this is the only m-method I've found so far."

She suddenly pressed a button on the underside of the table, and to the girls' terror, they found they couldn't move from where they were sitting.

"So p-please just sit still. It'll be over in a moment." Alphys raised an odd-looking device, pointing it at the middle of Millie's chest.

"Wait!" Eliza yelled, leaning the best she could to block the device. "You don't need to use that."

Alphys paused, lowering the device only slightly. "Y-you're the yellow soul they warned me about, aren't you? L-look, I'm sorry. I d-don't want to hurt your friends, but I h-have to for the testing."

Eliza didn't move, still sitting at the awkward slant. "No, I mean you don't have to use that thing. I'm going to be a scientist, I get that you just want to complete your experiments. But I also know that you'd like to do them with the least amount of outside variables, like the pain of using that thing." Eliza nodded at it. "We know how to make our souls form without there being a fight. No need for that."

Alphys dropped the tool, delight lighting up her face. "Y-you do! How? Th-that's fascinating, show me!"

Eliza sighed, sat back up, and used the method they discovered before to let her soul form above her head.

"Incredible! A-and you two can do it too?"

Renee and Millie followed suit.

"That's g-great! It c-cuts the time of the experiment and potential problems by more than half!" She used the other tool in her hand to scan their souls before they could object, and ran over to plug data into the computer.

She was back over to them holding a pad and pen before they could say anything. "N-now. Tell me how you did that. D-don't hold back on any details!"

They explained the simple process for a bit, Alphys asking each of them their personal opinion on it, before they heard an ugly noise from the computer. A hole in the side started to spit out a long sheet of paper covered in numbers.

Alphys made a squeak and dropped everything immediately to go check it, ripping off the paper and running back over to them. "Y-you probably have an interest in this too, right?"

That paper potentially had their death sentence on it. But, yes, it would be cool to potentially hear what it had to say. They all made sounds of agreement.

Alphys buried her head in the writing. "All of you are relatively high in your main attributes. But, actually, perseverance is a major trait in all of you as well. It's almost equal to all of your main traits."

She stopped looking at the page, going off on a tangent. "You know, that s-specimen there was a perseverance soul." She gestured toward the floating body. "I speculate that it's part of the r-reason he made it through the Underground so fast. His soul allowed him to take health from the monsters that fought him. It c-could have been really bad for the Sans if you three had been perseverance instead." She gave small off-balance laugh before going back to the paper.

"But as for y-your determination levels," she searched the page, becoming crestfallen as she found the numbers, "You three have the lowest levels of determination I have ever seen. There's no way we c-could use it to make an artificial soul." The paper crinkled in her grip. "I h-have to go report this to Papyrus. Let's go back to the main l-lab."

She pressed the button under the table again, releasing them from the strange magic. "Off y-you go." She had them walk through the door back toward the lab first. Maybe she had noticed Millie eyeing some of the knives. Either way, there was no way they could grab anything.

Sans and Papyrus stood immediately as they saw her coming.

"DOCTOR," Papyrus greeted. "SO, WHAT DID THE RESULTS SAY?"

Alphys shook her head, turning the page to show him, "I went through the normal process, but according to the r-results, I j-just don't think we can-"

The lab door suddenly opened, and a vibrant figure stepped through. Bright blue skin and red hair stood out against the (irrationally) tight black armor that showed off the muscles underneath. Her dangerous appearance was only furthered by a black eye patch resting over one eye. There probably would have been a moment to appreciate just the power of this figure, if she hadn't immediately interrupted in a voice almost as loud as Papyrus.

"Alphys! The king sent me to check how everything was going." She strode in, stopping in front of them with her hands folded behind her back.

"CAPTAIN UNDYNE!" Papyrus stood at some kind of attention before the fish-lady nodded at him.

"Uh… uh... U-undyne. I was j-just starting to g-give my r-results to Papyrus. F-from what I-I'm s-seeing…"

"Well, Doctor? Will we finally be able to escape, finally face the cowardly humans that trapped us here?" Undyne's stance was calm, but her eye glowed with passion.

"Y-you see, t-that's what I-I was t-trying to tell…"

"It was terrible to hear that none of the humans had the correct soul, but then King Asgore said you had an idea, and I just knew that everything would turn out right." The girls couldn't tell whether Undyne really noticed she was interrupting Alphys or not.

"B-but the t-thing is…"

"That's why we have such an excellent royal scientist-"

"T-THEY D-DON'T HAVE ENOUGH D-DETERMINATION!" Alphys exploded, before hiding bright pink behind the paper.

As everyone stayed quiet, she started to speak softly again. "I-In order for the artificial soul to be stable enough, I-I would need enough d-determination to make it almost one-hundred percent d-determination. P-put together, these three wouldn't be able to g-give me even thirty percent. T-they're useless."

"so no gettin' past the barrier, huh?" Sans shuffled his feet.

"NOT AT THIS POINT, SANS." Papyrus crossed his arms, a scowl on his face.

Undyne took a deep breath. "We can't help it when useless humans fall. It isn't your fault, doctor."

The entire group of monsters looked heartbroken. Renee almost felt sorry. Eliza wondered if the monsters had been violent when they were trapped Underground, or if they were more like what she saw in that moment. Millie saw an opportunity to try and escape.

The monsters' attention were on each other, and Millie grabbed her friends' hands and started to inch her way toward the door, the others understanding and following.

"SO AT THIS POINT WE HAVE TO ASK, WHAT DO WE DO WITH USELESS HUMANS?"

"Asgore said they should be put into the care of monsters that can keep them captive, and preferably," Undyne had a cold laugh, "to some sort of use."

"I-I would appreciate b-being able to keep at least one of t-them for study." Alphys piped up.

Undyne nodded. "The green shouldn't cause you that much trouble and the lab is secure. I can take the other two then. Their soul types have proven to be tough. They would probably work better for training than that worthless dummy."

"IF I MAY, UNDYNE, I WOULD LIKE TO REQUEST THAT MY BROTHER AND I KEEP THE YELLOW SOUL. SHE HAS MADE HERSELF A NUISANCE IN PARTICULAR, AND I FEEL WOULD WORK WELL AS A TEST SUBJECT FOR TORTURE METHODS." Papyrus interjected.

"Quite twisted, Vice Captain. But I will allow it. So I guess that is how it will be." Undyne kept a precision about her. Her stance sharp.

There was a moment of silence before that broke.

"So that's really it? That's all we can do? Split up the humans like some prizes amongst us and move on? Just go back to waiting?" Undyne looked physically disgusted.

"Y-yes, unfortunately. Like I said, there just isn't enough determination here." Alphys cast her head down, ashamed. "But!" she popped back up, "Keep them alive! Even if a human with determination doesn't fall, we might eventually gather enough humans to make the false soul!"

The three friends were almost to the door, and it seemed like the monsters' conversation was coming to a close. Screw stealth, they had to move. Millie made the final dash toward the exit, dragging the others with her. They were almost there, about to slam through the door, until a familiar red stopped them in their tracks.

"where didja think ya were going?" a sharp tug dragged them back into the center of the lab, half throwing them against the wall and some machinery.

"Be c-careful with my experiements!" Alphys huffed.

"Yeah, watch it, skeleboy!" Undyne echoed the small lizard.

Sans rolled his eyes, and repeated his question, "so, where?"

"Away?" Millie stared at him like he was an idiot. "I think it was away. Away sounds good, right guys?"

Eliza and Renee made humming noises of agreement.

"Look, I think the worms make a good point. It's time to leave. Sans, release them." Undyne directed the smaller skeleton, and waited a moment before he dropped them from where they had been stuck to the wall. "Orangey, you're coming with me."

Millie responded to the nickname by sticking out her tongue and backing further against the wall.

"that'd be our cue to take ya away too, yellow." Sans motioned for Eliza to walk over to him and Papyrus.

"INDEED. I MUST BE GETTING BACK TO MY OTHER GUARD DUTIES."

"How about no?" Eliza joined Millie with her back to the wall. "That's a laugh if you think we're going to let you separate us."

"the laugh is you thinking ya have a choice."

Glancing around, Millie looked for something- anything. She finally noticed a lone pipe sitting next to an unfinished machine. With a lunge, it was in her hands and she was at ready to attack. "There are always options."

The atmosphere instantly changed, and Sans started to chuckle, starting to raise his glowing hand again. "really, kid? heh heh he-"

"Outta the way, runt!" Undyne shoved the sinister skeleton roughly aside, squaring up to Millie.

"what do you think you're-" he let out a growl.

"Shut it, Sans. They want a fight, I'm the one to give it to them!"

Three souls appeared above their heads, and Millie charged Undyne with the pipe.

A magical glowing spear appearing in each of Undyne's hands, and she immediately threw both at Millie.

Renee started to let a shield form in front of her running friend, but Undyne had thrown two spears right after at Eliza as well. The green shield jumped without her thinking, blocking only the second spear as it reached Eliza.

The first half of the attack had phased through Millie, and she ignored the spear that grazed her side as she hit Undyne with all her might.

"Eliza, Millie! Are you okay?" Renee asked her two friends, allowing her shield to form around Millie as she retreated slightly back toward the wall.

"I'm fine," Eliza disregarded the gash on her leg. She had managed to dodge the attack fairly well.

"Never better," Millie breathed, pressing a hand against the wound in her side.

Undyne let out a laugh as she threw another bout of spears, the three humans scrambling to dodge them the best they could. Meanwhile, Renee's shield moved back and forth between her two friends, blocking a few spears here and there.

"Don't you see? I've fought your kind before. I know what your souls do, and I know how to make their powers useless!" Another chain of spears thrown at just Eliza and Millie.

Millie made another charge, letting the first spear phase through her and dodging the others the best she could, landing another blow on Undyne.

Eliza managed to find a large scapel on a nearby table, and made a move to attack as well, only for Undyne to side-step her when she got close.

Renee had stopped moving altogether, trying to focus on where her shield should be at which time. Undyne wasn't throwing any spears at her?

"Precious green can't decide which friend to protect, meaning that neither of them are free of damage," Undyne sidestepped Eliza again, the knife only grazing her, "And yellow has no extreme damage because I'm playing fair. It isn't like I'm attacking the defenseless green."

Undyne stabbed at Millie as she came close, managing to hit her shoulder. "And any series of attacks is enough to damage an orange soul."

The lab was beginning to look like a warzone, glowing spears sticking out of the wall behind them.

Eliza and Millie's souls were starting to dim from taking all of the little attacks, and they pulled back toward Renee, standing in front of her.

Renee rested the shield in front of Millie, who had been taking the brunt of the attacks, and was pleased to find that as long as they stood together the shield covered most of them.

"Undyne is barely showing any damage," Renee whispered to her friends.

The fish monster stood still and smiling, waiting for them to make their next move.

"No," Millie panted, "She's hurting more than she's showing. Look in her eye."

"I'm not sure. Her strategy has proven rather effective so far. I'm not sure how much longer we can last." Eliza could see the slight pain Undyne was trying to hide, but she felt that it was nowhere near where she and Millie were.

"We still have to try. Renee, can you cover me as I go in for another attack? I'm gonna try and smash that stupid smug look in." Millie tightened her grip on the pipe.

"Of course she can. I'll just dodge anything Undyne sends my way. Go get her." Eliza took a step back.

Millie started to dash toward the enemy, shield strong in front of her, while Undyne summoned a spear. Eliza readied herself to dodge, only to watch as the spear turned in its path, hitting Millie in the back.

It was the last blow. Millie collapsed unconscious, her faint soul fading out of view.

Eliza and Renee couldn't believe it, Renee letting out a small gasp, and Eliza chucking her scapel at Undyne, who just laughed and dodged.

"How _dare_ you hurt my friend. Is it that much to ask to stay together? You- you-" Eliza let out a yell as she pulled a glowing spear out of the wall and chucked it at Undyne.

Undyne stood her ground, laughing, fully intending to take the full damage. "You can't kill me, yellow! I can handle your attack." she shouted in response as the spear flew.

"N-no!" a different voice interjected into the fight, and out of nowhere a metal barricade flew up and stopped the spear in its tracks.

The pace of the battle was broken, and the monsters on the outside were remembered.

Eliza let out a growl, while Alphys sputtered at the still grinning Undyne. "J-just finish this already. It's stupid to l-let yourself get hurt. And even though you told off Sans earlier, you're destroying my lab!"

Giving a sigh that suggested that she was sorry the fight was ending, Undyne looked at the two girls still standing. "Are you ready to give up yet? We'd all like to leave."

"I won't let you take her willingly. I won't let anyone take either of them away from me," Eliza had grabbed Millie's unconscious form, pulling it back closer to Renee and her. Renee's shield glowed around Eliza, and as she stood in front of the others, she blocked any attacks from the front.

"Fine then." She gave a disappointed look to Alphys. "No more spears in the lab?"

"No m-more spears in the lab. A-and I'm not using the lab's defense protocol again if you put yourself in d-danger." Alphys crossed her arms.

"Ugh. Sans. Knock out the yellow. I won't get past green's shield quick enough for the Doctor's liking." Undyne reluctantly ordered the small skeleton, and with a wave of her hand the spears around the lab disappeared.

He looked unbelievably smug as he walked back toward the fight. "oh, now ya ask for my help. ya know, this would've been done and over with if ya had just let me-"

"Shut up, runt. I wanted to train some against multiple humans. Now do as I ordered," Undyne snapped.

Eliza was paused in front of Renee and Millie, trying to think of something to do. She wasn't near any weapons. If she moved to get anything and attack Sans or Undyne, the shield would move with her and leave her friends open to attack. Gods damn it. Why couldn't Renee just put the shield around herself? Then she wouldn't have to worry about her.

She took a breath. If she didn't move, she was going to get injured and leave Renee by herself in this fight anyway. It was better to try something now than to stay still.

"Hey Sans!" she called as he started to lift his arm.

"what is it now, huh? what're ya on about?" he stopped momentarily, humoring her.

"Why're you even listening to these guys? They clearly don't respect your power at all." Eliza casually stepped to the closest table, messing with some of the objects sitting on it.

"why do ya always try stunts like this? ya think you're so smart, but you're just postponin' the inevitable."

"STOP PLAYING WITH THE HUMAN AND FOLLOW YOUR ORDERS, SANS," Papyrus interjected, growing bored of everyone's nonsense.

"I don't know, maybe I am." Eliza stepped back to Renee, pulling her into a tight hug. "It'll be okay, darling." She told her loudly, before disguising a barely audible whisper as a kiss on her cheek. Eliza relaxed when Renee gave a murmur of acknowledgement.

Then, she swiftly turned around, making a mad dash at the two monsters, armed with a syringe in hand.

In less than a second she was slammed against the table, out cold immediately.

Alphys cried out as materials slid off of the surface, smashing on the ground. "M-must you k-keep destroying my work?!"

"sorry, doc. i'll be less destructive when i knock out green." Sans lifted his hand, and Renee felt the heavy weight of the red magic on her soul.

"N-no! That will d-damage my test subject. She won't be an issue. You all j-just leave. I have to start c-cleaning up this disaster." She seemed tired.

Sans shrugged. "that's alright by me. i've got what i wanted." Renee felt the magic loosen on her soul, and watched as instead he used it to float Eliza over to himself and Papyrus. "let's go, boss."

"Don't take her!" Renee strengthened the shield around Eliza, but it seemed to do no good against Sans' strange gravity powers.

She was so focused on the leaving skeletons that she didn't even register Undyne until she was pulling Millie away. "Don't take them!" Renee tried to hold onto Millie, but her strength was nothing compared to Undyne. Millie quickly left her grip and was thrown over the fish woman's shoulder.

"I'm heading out too. Hope clean-up isn't too bad, Alphys." She joined Sans and Papyrus in their walk toward the door.

Renee looked around for something she could do, chasing them, pulling at them, trying to stop them somehow, some way. When that didn't faze them, she took to grabbing things that she found on the ground along the way and throwing them at the captors.

"look," an irritated sans grumbled as he blocked another flying book, "your friends here are at such a low hp that if ya accidentally hit them instead of one of us, ya could really hurt them. so why don't ya just stop. ya lost."

Renee froze with another object in hand, unsure whether he was lying or not. It wasn't worth the risk. She dropped it and watched helplessly as they continued forward.

They were at the door. They were leaving, moving away from her. First Papyrus and Sans with Eliza, then Undyne with Millie. She could see them getting smaller.

And, in a pure moment of fear and irrationality, she started to run after them, "No." she whispered to herself, reaching after her friends, "You can't. You can't do this to us. We have to stay-"

The door out of the lab shut in her face with a _clang_.

A/N: Hello, darlings. I am alive. I wasn't kidding when I said my update schedule was horrible. My stories aren't abandoned, my energy is just sporadic. So please enjoy, and I'll try to update faster than a few months this time. (Sorry)


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